36/” THOU SHALT NOT ASSESS WHAT THOU CANST NOT TAX”: The City of St. Paul decided to collect revenues from the many churches, church properties, colleges, and not-profit lands in the City by assessing them for street maintenance. St. Paul was the only Minnesota city to fund its streets with such Right of Way (“ROW”) assessments. The churches sued because their properties should be held tax-free under federal and Minnesota constitutions, statutes, regulations, and court precedents.
The City persuaded both the district court and the Court of Appeals that the ROW assessments were not taxes imposed under the City’s taxing power. Rather, it was held that the ROW assessments were fees imposed under the City’s police powers to maintain the streets.
Chief Justice Gildea joined Justice David Lillehaug who wrote for the unanimous Supreme Court in striking down the City’s taxing scheme as it affected church property as an unconstitutional exercise of the tax power. The Supreme Court returned the case to determine whether any portion of the assessment under the City’s police power could properly be collected for any “special services” delivered to a church property in maintaining the streets.
READ THE FULL CASE DECISION:
August 24, 2016 2016-
https://mn.gov/law-library-stat/archive/supct/2016/OPA150015-082416.pdf
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