While some of us were focused on the poor single mom who tried to buy ice cream with her food stamps, it turns out that tax exempt private high schools in Massachusetts are paying some of their employees $450,000 and more. Can anyone out there justify this for me? The story is in the Globe and I heard some details on the radio. Anyone care to take this one on and defend It?
Please share widely!
One of the most expensive private schools in the country is asking the city to approve $52 million in tax-free bonds so it can finance improvements that include a new six-lane swimming pool.
As I have advocated earlier, I like Paul LePage’s idea of charging property tax on all non-profits with property assets more than $500,000. Or $1,000,000. Or pick a MA number. The first half-million exempt, then perhaps a non-profit rate for the excess.
BTW – what do you suppose the combined salary of Harvard & MIT are?
On this date, I agreed with Paul LePage on something.
The salaries are a symptom of income inequality, plain and simple. Of an ever-ossifying plutocracy.
What are these men and woman doing that is so tewwibly important? Other than prepping the sons and daughters of the 1% for Harvard and Yale.
I’m not above taking the crumbs from the rich man’s table–maybe some school system can use the extra revenue to hire some smaht for-profit consulting firm to run things for them (oops).
But before I do, I have to say how pathetically inadequate an answer this is to the problem.
…is not an unreasonable condition to put on non-profits, though I don’t know if one size fits all would work. I don’t mind educational institutions being non-profits, but I can’t think of a HS staff position that justifies 450K. On the other hand university professors should be able to make salaries are commensurate with their KSAs. What I really want to know is how health insurance providers justify being non-profits, when they clearly are businesses which do in fact make handsome profits.
..you can tell me why labor unions, mutual insurance companies, and credit unions are as well.
IIRC, there are 25 categories of 501-c designations.