112 Ky. 200 | Ky. Ct. App. | 1901
Opinion op the court by
Affirming.
The question to be determined in this ease is whether appellant’s property is exempt from taxation on the ground that the institution is one of purely public charity, under section 170 of the Constitution; “There shall be exempt from taxation public property used for public purposes; places actually used for religious worship, with the grounds attached thereto and used and appurtenant to the house of worship, not exceeding one-half acre in cities or towns, and no't exceeding two acres in the country; places of burial not held for private nr corporate profit, institutions of purely public charity, and institutions of education not used or employed for gain by any person or corporation, and the income of which is devoted solely to the cause of education;.public libraries, their endowments, and the income of such property as is used exclusively for their maintenance; all- parsonages or residences owned by any religious society, and occupied as a home, and for no other purpose, by the minister of any religion, with not exceeding one-half acre of ground in towns and cities, and two acres of ground in the country appurtenant thereto; household goods and other personal property of a person with a family, not exceeding two hundred and fifty dollars in value; crops grown in the year in which the assessment is made, and in the 'hands of the producer; and all laws exempting or commuting property from taxation other than the property above mentioned shall be void. The General Assembly may authorize any incorporated city or town to exempt
It is evident, o-n these facts, that the institution is an admirable charity, but this is not enough to exempt it under the Constitution. It is not exempt unless .an institution of purely public charity. In City of Newport v. Masonic Temple Ass’n., 21 Ky. Law Rep., 1785 (56 S. W., 105), (49 L. R. A., 252), this court said: “There are many commendable organizations owning a large amount of property, and doing often much work of benevolence, such -as the Knights of Pythias-, the Elks, the Odd Fellows, the Red Men, S'ons of Temperance, and the like; but so long as they confine their beneficence to their own members' or their widows and orphan®, or are not designed for ch-arita
Judgment affirmed,
Petition for rehearing by appellant overruled.