Recession prompts government look at charities

It’s about time charities got a good looking-at , anyway, in my opinion.

At the state government level, since Texas doesn’t have state property taxes, this doesn’t have statewide fallout. But, it could certainly have local fallout if the state starts doing whats’ happening elsewhere.

Here’s the bottom line:

Almost 88 percent of overall nonprofit revenues in 2005, the most recent year for which figures are available, came from fees for services, sales and sources other than charitable contributions, according to the National Center for Charitable Statistics. Nonprofit health care providers, day care centers and retirement homes, among others, are often difficult to distinguish from their tax-paying competitors.

That’s a lot of dinero. Add to it new things like the Sierra Club selling its name, and yes, you do have to take a harder look at charities.

And, as I noted in my header, governments are always on the looking for new sources of revenue in recessions anyway.