Rhode Island Nonprofit Loses on Property Tax Break Eligibility

A health-care services nonprofit serving the elderly doesn’t qualify for a property tax exemption because the relevant state statute doesn’t explicitly mention similar organizations, the Rhode Island Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.

Past court rulings clarify that when a party’s qualification for a tax exemption is ambiguous under the statute, the court should rule in favor of taxation. “Therefore, we need not engage in any further analysis to resolve the ambiguity,” Chief Justice Paul A. Suttell wrote for the unanimous court.

The statute in question allows a property tax exemption for an “incorporated library, society, or any free public library, or ...