Opinion
No. 39581
Decided February 16, 1966.
Taxation — Exemptions — Public institutions of learning — Include private institutions of learning, when — Buildings connected with college, including residence buildings for students — Institution operated not for profit.
APPEAL from the Board of Tax Appeals.
The Methodist Theological School in Ohio, an Ohio corporation not for profit, filed with the Board of Tax Appeals an application for exemption from taxation and an application for remission of taxes and penalty on its entire property which is being used as a theological seminary for the training of clergymen.
It is a graduate school, the applicants being required to hold a bachelor of arts degree or its equivalent from an accredited college. The school is open to all qualified applicants and there are no requirements with respect to race, creed or nationality. The prescribed course of study is a three-year course in theology leading to a bachelor of divinity degree.
The purpose of the school is to provide education for clergymen and teachers and to prepare students for the ministry. Although supported in part by the Methodist Church, it is engaged in a program of theological education which will qualify a graduate for ordination as a Methodist clergyman or a clergyman in any other faith and for teaching and other ecumenical work.
The property sought to be exempted is improved by buildings consisting of academic, administration and service buildings, including a library, an auditorium, classrooms, a dining hall and kitchen, a storage barn, residence buildings, including a men's residence hall, married students' apartment buildings, a custodian's residence, etc.
The school is operated without any view to profit. The articles of incorporation provide that no part of the net income shall inure to the benefit of any trustee officer or member, and that any balance of money or assets remaining after full payment of corporate obligations shall be devoted solely to the educational, religious and benevolent purpose of the corporation.
The Board of Tax Appeals allowed the exemption prayed for and ordered a remission of the taxes and penalties which accrued during the tax year 1963.
An appeal from the decision of the Board of Tax Appeals brings the cause to this court for review.
Mr. George Cleveland Smythe, prosecuting attorney, and Mr. H. Lloyd Jones, for appellant.
Messrs. Bricker, Evatt, Barton, Eckler Niehoff and Mr. William R. Chadeayne, for appellee.
The decision of the Board of Tax Appeals is affirmed on authority of Denison University v. Board of Tax Appeals, 2 Ohio St.2d 17.
Decision affirmed.
TAFT, C.J., MATTHIAS, O'NEILL, HERBERT, SCHNEIDER and BROWN, JJ., concur.