I'm going to take by $10k college tuition windfall and keep quiet. I suggest other DC residents do the same.

13:48 here. Also as the city becomes wealthier in places like Ward 4 and 6 not just Ward 3 there will be more kids vying for the limited spots in DC privates, I like to see how they continue to justify tax exempt status for institutions that seem to have such high number of out of state children. The NIMBY factor will shoot up exponentially.

DC residents do subsidize tax exempt institutions. In economic theory that is land that is not earning rent (no property tax) , a business that is not paying taxes (income, sales, etc), and they do use a number of city services and do not have to shoulder the cost. If there was a fire at one of those schools DCFD would be forced to respond. Non DC residents are wearing out the city’s roads when the DC residents to subsidize tax exempt institutions. In economic theory that is land that is not earning rent, a business that is not paying taxes, and they do use a number of city services and do not have to shoulder the cost. If there was a fire at one of those schools DCFD would be forced to respond. Non DC residents are wearing out the city’s roads when they bring their children to school and unlike a for profit business (say driving in to a restaurant) the city (i.e. residents) gets no benefit from these out of state residents. So while the schools may be “private” they should either serve the greater good of the District of Columbia or not be tax exempt. In that case they can be private and take whomever they so choose and not put DC residents on the hook. I think a 9:1 ration of DC to out of state residents is probably fair.

Private schools everywhere are required by law to benefit the public. This is both a matter of Federal tax law, in which all charities must serve the public interest, and of state corporate nonprofit law, where the directors are required to further their charitable mission. Providing an education has long been considered a charitable purpose. What is key here is that, while the mission is to benefit the public, the charity's board determines how that mission is fulfilled. In general, charities do not receive direct govt funding, though they, of course, receive indirect govt benefits in the form of no income taxes. The exemption from income taxes is based on serving a charitable purpose. As such, private schools are NOT required, in any way, to accept or not accept local students. It is up to the private sector Board to determine how its educational mission is pursued. The logic of some PPs would be that all charities based in DC must be focused on the DC population. What about the UN Foundation or Save the Children?? The idea here is that Federal tax law encourages the formation of PRIVATE GROUPS to pursue charitable missions as they see fit. There, however, is a distinction where public dollars are directly involved, such as with public schools, charter schools and state universities. In exchange for directly receiving public dollars, these institutions are generally required to focus on local residents, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As I posted before, private schools should give DC residents either a break in tuition, a preference in application, or a combination of both. we all know they don't HAVE to. Its more of a question of what they Should Do.

Personally, I think private schools should have to publish a list of how many DC residents BY Ward they enroll in order to keep their tax exempt status. What public good are they achieving in DC by educating MD and VA youth.

Oh, puleeze. It's thoughts like this that keep DC from having full voting rights. You think that the city government should get to pick and choose tax exempt status based on their subjective assessment of the relative good that a school is providing to the city? All that would lead to is private schools admitting a bunch of offspring of Mayor Fenty's fraternity brothers (even though their parents could afford tuition anywhere, based on the lucrative city contracts the mayor swings their way). Whether a group is tax exempt should not be subject to political whims. Grow up, and in few years, we'll reconsider giving you more of a voting responsibility.

Not really a big issue for me. I find it depressing that good friends of mine seem to think their single vote has some sort of impact on the essentially random character of elections in either MD or VA. You might just as well blow a dandelion while whispering your preferences to the wind, for all the impact an individual vote makes.

I bet you get up bright and early on election day to cast your all-important vote for dog-catcher. Good job!

And, if it weren't for the presence of many of those tax-free institutions--government, schools, churches--we'd have absolutely no reason to live in this cesspool on the potomac....

...is your assertion.

In the case of government, I agree. Your hand-waving aside, we're currently arguing whether tax-exempt status for certain schools is worth it. And I disagree out of hand with the idea that DC's churches contribute to the quality-of-life of the city. In fact, most of them serve congregations that live almost exclusively in MD, and hold vacant properties that they refuse to repair, maintain, or sell. If their assets were seized by OTR tomorrow, it would be better for all concerned.

Anonymous wrote:As I posted before, private schools should give DC residents either a break in tuition, a preference in application, or a combination of both. we all know they don't HAVE to. Its more of a question of what they Should Do.

Personally, I think private schools should have to publish a list of how many DC residents BY Ward they enroll in order to keep their tax exempt status. What public good are they achieving in DC by educating MD and VA youth.

Oh, puleeze. It's thoughts like this that keep DC from having full voting rights. You think that the city government should get to pick and choose tax exempt status based on their subjective assessment of the relative good that a school is providing to the city? All that would lead to is private schools admitting a bunch of offspring of Mayor Fenty's fraternity brothers (even though their parents could afford tuition anywhere, based on the lucrative city contracts the mayor swings their way). Whether a group is tax exempt should not be subject to political whims. Grow up, and in few years, we'll reconsider giving you more of a voting responsibility.

Anonymous wrote:

Hah! No. They do not have a responsibility to DC residents. THey do not take DC taxes like the public schools. What an idiot you are.

I think in a separate thread, there was a question that cropped up about the meaning of the word "douchebag". Thanks for providing us with a working definition.

Oh, also, just wanted to point out that DC residents do subsidize tax-free institutions.

And, if it weren't for the presence of many of those tax-free institutions--government, schools, churches--we'd have absolutely no reason to live in this cesspool on the potomac. So, kwicherbichen.

Hah! No. They do not have a responsibility to DC residents. THey do not take DC taxes like the public schools. What an idiot you are.

I think in a separate thread, there was a question that cropped up about the meaning of the word "douchebag". Thanks for providing us with a working definition.

Oh, also, just wanted to point out that DC residents do subsidize tax-free institutions.

Anonymous wrote: I know this topic has been brought up before, but this is just one thing that continues to irk me. Don’t DC privates have some responsibility to the city and its residents especially since most (if not all) are tax exempt entities. I remember Anthony Williams wasn’t too happy about this, and now I can totally see his point. Why isn’t there a tier system that will allow for qualified city children to get in first before taking in suburban kids (I’d feel better about this if we had a commuter tax but that is a different issue all together). This about scarce resources being given to people who don’t even live here. Don’t get me wrong, most of the kids and families are great but I’m tired of seeing qualified DC children losing out on their first or second choice schools that seem to be filled with suburban kids that come from areas with already good public schools. That’s not fair.

Hah! No. They do not have a responsibility to DC residents. THey do not take DC taxes like the public schools. What an idiot you are.

As I posted before, private schools should give DC residents either a break in tuition, a preference in application, or a combination of both. we all know they don't HAVE to. Its more of a question of what they Should Do.

Personally, I think private schools should have to publish a list of how many DC residents BY Ward they enroll in order to keep their tax exempt status. What public good are they achieving in DC by educating MD and VA youth.

Anonymous wrote:I completely agree with pp. We wanted our kid to go to Visitation. But no, all of the suburban girls had to prove how "cool" they were by going to school in "G'town". I thought the Catholics should behave better...guess not...given the priest scandal and lack of women leaders.
DC people don't have a choice with the publics...people in MD and VA have good choices.

My kid was just as smart or smarter than any other kid...at an Ivy now. Every time I see those cars driving into the city schools from MD and VA -- it really irks me.

How old are you?

Whoever can pay and qualify.

Anonymous wrote:I'm always amused by this idea that DC residents are a bunch of moochers, subsidized by MD and VA taxpayers.

Look, working-, middle- and upper-class and DC residents have been shouldering the majority of the burden for the *regional* poverty problem--whether it's homeless, poor single-mothers, etc..., etc...--for more than a half-century. Pretty much since the suburbanites fled to the 'burbs, and left the de facto ghetto.

Any time there's a program or initiative to have the various regional municipalities contribute to this regional problem, the weeping and gnashing of teeth is unbearable.

I can't even imagine what it's going to be like in 10 or 20 years, when the demographics of the city continue to trend more affluent, and more and more of the urban poverty is pushed out of the city and into MD and VA.

I'm certain you guys will have the answers to these seemingly intractable problems when the time comes. Best of luck!

Looks like that time is here:
http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2010/01/18/daily48.html

Child pp.