136 Misc. 421 | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | 1925
Certiorari to review the action of the board of taxes and assessments denying relator’s application to have its property exempted from taxation. The relator was incorporated in June, 1923, under article 11 of the Membership Corporations Law of 1909,
Section 170 provides that three or more persons may become a corporation “ for the purpose of erecting and maintaining monuments or memorials, including a memorial hall or building, to per
Relator urges that the above provision exempts its property, because it expressly states it shall be exempt from taxes and because it is made exempt from levy and sale on execution and all such property is exempt from taxation. (Tax Law, § 4, subd. 5, as amd. by Laws of 1921, chap. 169.) This is doubtless true of the property referred to in sections 170 and 171 of Membership Corporations Law of 1909, but it cannot be that all property owned by such a corporation, no matter what its use, would be so exempt. If so, then an apartment house or a commercial building owned by the corporation would escape taxation. That cannot have been the intention of the
The portion of the section that speaks of using “ income ” plainly refers only to property given or devised to the corporation in trust, and such income must be used for the erection and maintenance of the monument or memorial. There is nothing in the statute authorizing the purchase of a clubhouse or any other building and the exemption given was not intended to apply to such property.
The subject of this proceeding is a frame building on a lot 40 feet by 100 feet. The lot with the building upon it was purchased by relator shortly after its incorporation, from a church.
Since the purchase, the church has occupied the ground floor on Sundays and Thursday evenings, paying fifty dollars a month for such use, and the two upper floors are at all times rented as an apartment for sixty dollars a month. With this income relator has reduced its mortgage debt. None of the income has been used for any purpose save as just stated and for the upkeep of the property. The building is not a monument nor does it appear to be a memorial in the sense at least indicated by the statute. It seems to be a headquarters or clubhouse for the post, the officers of which, because of their positions, being the directors of the corporation. It is not exempt from taxation.
Proceeding dismissed and determination of respondents confirmed.
Settle papers on notice.
See Membership Corporations Law of 1926. (Laws of 1926, chap. 722).— [Rep.