Justices won’t hear Gainesville chamber tax break fight

Gavel (Pixlr)

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up an appeal by Alachua County’s property appraiser and tax collector in a dispute about whether a local chamber of commerce should receive a property-tax exemption.

As is common, justices did not explain their reasons for deciding against hearing the appeal filed by Alachua County Property Appraiser Ed Crapo and Tax Collector John Power.

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The local officials went to the Supreme Court after a panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal upheld a tax exemption for the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce because of the non-profit organization’s “charitable purpose.”

The chamber had a property-tax exemption before 2014, but the property appraiser and tax collector then denied the exemption. At least in part, the denial stemmed from a decision that economic development has not traditionally been considered a charitable activity.


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