I love Chattanooga, and I love nonprofits. I live in the city, work in the city and plan to do so for decades to come. That’s why I based my marketing agency, which works with nonprofits, in Chattanooga. Finally, I also love our downtown – but I believe it needs improvement.
Most of my career has been devoted to nonprofits. I spend my days meeting with and working on behalf of nonprofits. I know their pain points, their thought processes, their biggest fears and greatest hopes. I understand Chattanooga and I understand nonprofits, which is why I’ve been bothered recently by the decision to “tax” nonprofits.
Today, if you are a nonprofit with property downtown, you have to pay a legally binding fee. It doesn’t matter if you are a small church or a large museum. You are treated the same. This is wrong. According to Webster’s dictionary, a tax is “a charge usually of money imposed by authority on persons or property for public purposes.” The financial assessment on nonprofits downtown is a tax. The Downtown Chattanooga Alliance (DTA) likes to refer to it as an assessment, but it functions no differently than a tax.
Here are three reasons why we need Mayor Tim Kelly and the city council to show leadership and courage and compel the Downtown Chattanooga Alliance to relieve nonprofits of this tax.
1) It takes donor money away from organizations. The people who put money in the offering plate at their church or donate to organizations like United Way are not giving to support the commercial viability of downtown (as worthy as that mission is). They are giving to support the organization they love and further the work they do. The DTA is redistributing charitable money to be used for purposes for which it was never intended.