Tax exemption vacated for failure to answer discovery
The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania has vacated a trial court decision granting real estate tax exemption for a portion of a building the landowner claimed was used as an actual place of regularly stated religious worship. The School District had appealed on the basis that the landowner had failed to provide in discovery a copy of a stipulation with the Township that she would not use the facility for “religious use.” Saraswati Nirmalananda, who described herself as the spiritual leader of a Hindu ashram, had applied for exemption for a property she described as a “residential monastery” where half of the property was used for prayer, 3/8 was used for residential facilities for monks...
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