NY High Court Draws Line on Charitable Tax Break Burden of Proof

A New York City church is entitled to a religious use property tax exemption because the local government failed to prove the organization committed a zoning violation, New York’s high court held Monday in a 4-3 decision.

The trial court record is sufficient to support that court’s finding that First United Methodist Church didn’t use the property, located in the Catskills town of Callicoon, as a retreat but instead to grow produce for low-income Queens residents, complying with the zoning code, the opinion said. The New York Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s decision.

Chief Judge Rowan D. ...