Regional elder-care facilities have every right to be asking for an exemption from paying real estate taxes. It's the law.
If the nonprofit organizations can meet the five-point test authorized by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 2007, they would be considered true charities that provide such a vital and sensitive service.
But the General Assembly must act quickly to close all potential loopholes. There are too many business-like organizations in the commonwealth -- such as megabillion-dollar medical centers and institutions of higher learning -- that are tax-exempt nonprofits in name only.
There must be strict standards for the nonprofits that genuinely embody the ideals of charities.
The Legislature also must address the problem of diminished revenues to school districts that would lose the tax revenue from the nonprofits meeting the five-point test.
But instead of cooking up schemes to replace the losses, the state must finally allow taxpayers to control costs by enfranchising them to decide tax increases and bond issues.
True charities deserve special consideration -- as do the taxpayers who, one way or another, always foot the bill.
