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Educational Words and Phrases In Reference to IRS Publication 970 Educational Tax Deductions

 

“...Words “educational, literary, scientific, religious or charitable purposes”, as used in property tax exemption statute are to be defined and understood in their broad constitutional sense.  Indianapolis Elks Bldg. Corp. v. State Bd. of Tax Com’rs, 251 N.E. 2d 673, 679, 145 Ind.App. 522, 39 A.L.R.3d 624.”

“Educational” within statute exempting from taxation real property used for educational purposes and owned by corporation organized exclusively for educational purposes must be taken in its broad sense and term contemplates not only mental and moral but physical training and welfare.  Faculty-Student Ass'n of Harpur College v. Dawson, 292 N.Y.S.2d 216, 227, 57 Misc.2d 112.”

 

“...With exception of basement apartment of caretaker, corporate woman's club building in which club had meetings to learn about government, had meetings concerning Bible, played bridge to raise funds for hospital, screened magazines for propaganda and sent them to foreign countries, etc., and distributed materials for garments to go to community emergency shop was owned and used exclusively for “educational,” “religious” and “charitable” purposes within tax exemption statute.  Id.

 

Aims and purposes of corporate woman's club which donated food and money to a community center, donated books and money to convalescent ward of general hospital, provided scholarships, contributed money to cancer society and children's zoo, and gave garments to community emergency shop and Indian families were “religious,” “educational,” and “charitable” within tax exemption statute.  Id.

 

The term “educational” is generic and could include “recreational”, and even if constitution of County Council Boy Scouts of America had not included recreation as well as education in purposes of organization, it would have been empowered to provide recreational program, and fact that its constitution specifically stated that one of its purposes was administering recreational program was not fatal to its claim of immunity from suits in negligence brought by its beneficiaries, even though statute defined charity as nonprofit organization organized “exclusively” for religious, charitable, educational or hospital purposes.  Stoolman v. Camden County Council Boy Scouts of America, 185 A.2d 436, 440, 77 N.J.Super. 129.”

 

“...Evidence that religious association sought to use land for conducting highly specialized seminars for a select group of students relating to the Ukrainian Catholic tradition and Ukrainian culture which were not taught elsewhere, that a small private library containing rare books and manuscripts would be maintained on the premises, and that faculty would be drawn from the faculties of local institutions of higher learning on a volunteer basis demonstrated that the proposed use of the property was for “educational” purposes within meaning of zoning ordinance.  St. Sophia Religious Ass'n. of Ukrainian Catholics, Inc. v Cheltenham Tp., 365 A.2d 1389, 1390, 27 Pa.Cmwlth. 237.

 

Corporation which was engaged in publishing and distributing the Holy Bible but which had no corporate affiliation with any denomination, sect or organization having as its avowed purpose the furthering of a recognized religion was not entitled to have property removed from city tax rolls on theory that its purposes were “religious,” nor was corporation entitled to exemption under the category of “educational” purpose.  American Bible Society v. Lewisohn, 351 N.E.2d 697, 700, 40 N.Y.2d 78, 386 N.Y.S.2d 49.

 

Foundation engaged in disseminating religious and philosophical writings and teachings of eighteenth century Swedish theologian, philosopher and scientist did not constitute “educational” activity within Real Estate Tax Law exemption by reason of foundations efforts to “educate” people as to the writings and views of the philosopher or by the foundation's real property was not exempt from taxation by city.  Swedenborg Foundation, Inc. v. Lewisohn, 351 N.E.2d 702, 706, 40 N.Y.S.2d 87, 386 N.Y.S.2d 54.”

 

“...”Educational purposes,” as used in constitutional and statutory provisions exempting property so used from taxation, includes systematic instruction in any and all branches of learning from which a substantial public benefit is derived, and is not limited to such school properties as would relieve some substantial educational burden from the state.  McKee v. Evans, Alaska, 490 P.2a 1226, 1230.

Education must be primary purpose or function of corporation for corporation to be organized arid operated exclusively for “educational purposes” within Internal Revenue Code, so that gift by taxpayer to corporation is deductible in computing income tax liability, and such of corporation's activities as do not serve to further education must be so minor in comparison as to be termed incidental.  Id.”

 

“...The term “educational purposes” as used in constitutional and statutory provisions exempting from taxation property used exclusively for “educational purposes” is not defined in terms of common scholastic institutions of grammar school, high school, and university or college, and organizations for social, intellectual, physical, or religious welfare of children are exempt equally.  Id.”

 

“...School, which was set up by nonprofit corporation for instruction in art of photography and business of operating portrait, commercial and other types of studies and which offered courses of a type and quality which were not readily available in state or in other parts of country, thus relieving state, to a limited extent, of some of its tax burdens by providing such courses, was operated for an educational purpose” within statute exempting those buildings from real and personal property taxes that have been set apart for educational purposes.  State Bd. of Tax Com’rs v. Professional Photographers of America, Inc., 268 N.E.2d 617, 622, 148 Ind.App. 601.”

 

EDUCATION AND RELIGIOUS USE

“...Non-profit religious and educational institution's “use” of property for married students' dormitories would be an “educational and religious use” of same , with in purview of zoning ordinance permitting such use of property in single family residence district, and a building which might be used as an apartment house or 'multiple dwelling”, within ordinance definition of quoted term as “a building designed for or occupied by three or more families living independently of each other”, would not be so used when in fact it was being used as a married students' dormitory.  Schuler  v. Board of Adjustment of City of Dubuque, 95 N.W.2d 731, 733, 250 Iowa 782.”

 

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

“...School for continuing education of businessmen was “educational institution” within meaning of Real Property Tax Law exemption.  American Management Associations v. Assessor of Town of Madison, 406 N.Y.S.2d 583 585 , 63 A. D.2d 1102.”

 

“...A nondegree-conferring institution does not presumptively fail to qualify as an “educational institution” for purpose of real property tax exemption; qualifying Kalamazoo Nature Center, Inc. v. Cooper Twp., 104 Mich.App. 657, 305 N.W.2d 283; Circle Pines Center v. Orangeville Twp. 103 Mich.App. 593, 302 N.W.2d 917.  Association of Little Friends, Inc. v. City of Escanaba, 360 N.W.2d 602, 604, 138 Mich.App. 302.”

 

In civil rights action brought by discharged employee against her employer, district court properly found that employer, corporation which maintained 23 school facilities with classrooms located throughout neighborhoods serviced by corporation and which employed some 80 persons as teachers, was an “educational institution” and that discharged employee's work with parents in development of corporation's programs was “connected with” activities of corporation within meaning of Title VII of Civil Rights Act of 1964.  Faulkner v. Federation of Preschool & Community Ed.  Centers, Inc., C.A.Cal., 564 F.2d 327, 328.”

 

“...Even though school of design was an institution of specialized higher education it was an “educational institution” within statutes exempting such institutions from real and personal property taxation, where if offered program similar to those offered at state colleges and universities and it was clear that burden imposed on art and design departments of state-supported increased if it were not for existence of the institution.  David Walcott Kendall Memorial school v. City of Grand Rapids, 160 N.W.2d 778, 784, 11 Mich.App. 231.”

 

“...Charitable school established under testamentary trust for training, education, and maintenance of poor white male orphans was a “school” and an “educational institution” within Pennsylvania Public Accommodations Act prohibiting racial discrimination.  Com. of Pa., v. Brown, D.C.Pa., 260 F.Supp. 358, 364.”

 

EDUCATIONAL TRAINING

“...”Educational Training” is not confined to colleges, universities, or even the public schools, but consists, in the broadest sense, of acquiring information or inspirational suggestions which cause the individual to think and act along proper lines.  Jones v. Better Business Bureau of Oklahoma City, C.C.A.Okl., 123 F.2d 767, 769.”

 

EDUCATION AND EDUCATIONAL USES

“Educational” is defined as the process of developing and training the powers and capabilities of human beings, as the preparing and fitting for calling or business, or for activity and usefulness in life, and may be particularly directed to either mental, moral, or physical powers and facilities, but in its broadest and best sense relates to them all.  “Educational uses” include payment of additions to teachers' salaries, maintenance of manual or industrial training, provision for equipment, furnishing of lectures, and educational moving pictures, giving of prizes for proficiency, payment of transportation of pupils, and granting of scholarships. Lyme High School Ass'n v. Alling, 154 A. 439, 442, 113 Conn.  200.”

 

“...”Education” is the bringing up, physically and mentally, of a child, or the preparation of a person, by some due course of training, for a professional or business life or calling. State ex rel.  Henderson v. Lesueur, 13 S.W.237, 238, 99 Mo.552, 7 L.R.A. 734.”

 

“...”Education” expenses provided for in a will mean more than acquisition of knowledge out of text-books, and included inculcation of precepts of respectable economy and just regard for rights and interests of others.  Simpson v. Watkins, 139 So. 400, 402, 162 Miss.242.”

 

“...”Education” is a broad term and includes all knowledge if taken in its full and not in its legal or popular sense.  Whatever is learned by observation, by conversation, or by other means, away from what has been implanted by nature, is “education.'' In fact, everything not known intuitively and instinctively is “education.” State v. Rowan, 106 S.W.2d 861, 864, 171 Tenn. 612.”

 

“...”Education” is a broad term, and includes all knowledge.  If we take it in its full and not in its legal or popular sense, whatever we learn by observation, by conversation, or by other means away from what has been implanted by nature, is 'education.' In fact, everything not known intuitively and instinctively is .education.”' Cook v. State, 16 S.W. 471, 472, 90 Tenn. ( 6 Pickle) 407, 13 L.R.A. 183.”

 

“Education” is defined as the process of developing and training the powers and capabilities of human beings, as the preparing and fitting for calling or business, or for activity and usefulness in life , and may be particularly directed to either mental, moral, or physical powers and facilities, but in its broadest and best sense relates to them all.  “Educational uses” include payment of additions to teachers' salaries, maintenance of manual or industrial training, provision for equipment, furnishing of lectures, and educational moving pictures, giving of prizes for proficiency, payment of transportation of pupils, and the granting of scholarships.  Lyme High School Ass'n v. Alling, 154 A. 439, 442, 113 Conn. 200.”

 

“...And, where an institution is incorporated for the education of boys, its trustees did not exceed their authority when they established an institution providing a place where young men whose early education had been neglected could be instructed, their physical welfare cared for, and a practical knowledge of work, especially agriculture, given them daily.  Mount Herman Boys' School v. Town of Gill, 13 N.E. 354, 357, 145 Mass. 139, 146.”

 

“Education,” as understood to-day, connotes all those processes cultivated by a given society as means for the realization in the individual of the ideals of the community as a whole.  It has for its aim the development of the powers of man (1) by exercising each along its particular line, (2) by properly coordinating and subordinating them, (3) by taking advantage of the law of habit, and (4) by appealing to human interest and enthusiasm.  It includes not only the narrow conception of instruction, to which it was formerly limited, but embraces all forms of human experience, owing to the recognition of the fact that every stimulus with its corresponding reaction has a definite effect on character.  It may be either mainly esthetic, ethical, intellectual, physical, or technical, but to be most satisfactory it must involve and develop all these sides of human capacity.  Weyl v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, C.C.A, 48 F.2d 811, 812.”

 

“Education” is a broad and comprehensive term with a variable and indefinite meaning , and in its broadest significance comprehends the acquisition of all knowledge tending to develop and train the individual, and, when used in this sense, is not limited to the years of adolescence or to instruction in schools, but is commonly associated with youth and the instruction received form their teachers, and is the general and formal word for schooling, especially in an institution of learning.  Where will provided that upon termination of widow's life estate $4,000 should vest in testator's daughter in trust for grandsons, aged 2 and 4 when will was executed, principal and income to be used to assist in “education” of grandsons, and widow, 61 when will was executed, lived until grandsons were 27 and 29 and had received their schooling and established themselves in their employment, trust fund could not be used to improve present education of grandsons or for their adult education.  New Britain Trust Co. v. Stoddard, 179 A.642, 643, 120 Conn.123.”    

 

The discipline of formal study and instruction is a part of “education,” but so also are all the experiences of life, the aspects of nature, the humdrum and the unexpected happenings of a social existence among one's fellows.  “Education” is the process of developing and training the powers and capabilities of human beings.  To “educate” is to prepare and fit for any calling or business, or for activity and usefulness in life.  “Education” may be particularly directed to either the mental, moral, or physical powers and faculties, but in its broadest and best sense relates to them all.  Where one can distinguish the true from the false where a plausible argument may be made as well as for the wrong as for the right, he is endowed with the “illative sense,” which must be present to some degree if an “education” has begun to come within sight of its completion.  Under will creating trust of income from book rights and royalties to be invested and reinvested, with application of income or so much of principal as was necessary for proper “education” of testator's brother, trust was intended to continue during life of brother.  In re Wolfe's Estate, 299 N. Y. S.99 , 102 , 164 , Misc . 504.”

 

“…In a general sense, “education” is development of whole nature of man, physical, intellectual and moral, through interaction with every phase of his environment, but in a narrower sense it means development of the powers of capabilities of mind through special processes of training.  In re Everson's Will, 52 N.Y.S.2d 365, 401, 265 App.Div. 425.

 

“Education” connotes all those processes cultivated by a given society as a means for realization in the individual of the ideals of the community as a whole and includes not only the narrow conception of instruction, to which it was formerly limited, but embraces all forms of human experience, owing to the recognition of the fact that every stimulus with its corresponding reaction has a definite effect upon character and may be either mainly esthetic, ethical, intellectually physical, or technical, but to be most satisfactory it must involve and develop all these sides of human capacity.  Langbein v. Board of Zoning Appeals of Town of Millford, 67 A.2d 5, 8, 135 Conn. 575.

 

“Education”  means the totality of the information and qualities acquired through instruction and training which further the development of an individual physically, mentally, and morally.  The word “education” taken in its full sense is a broad, comprehensive term and may be particularly directed to either mental, moral, or physical faculties, but in its broadest and best sense it embraces them all, and includes not merely the instructions received at school, college, or university, but the whole course of training -moral, intellectual, and physical.  Jones v. Better Business Bureau of Oklahoma City, C.C.A.Okl., 123 F.2d 767, 769.

 

“Education,” in its broadest and best sense, embraces training of moral and physical, as well as mental, powers or faculties.  McNair v. School Dist.  No. I of Cascade County, 288 P. 188, 190, Mont.423, 69 A.L.R. 866.

 

“Education,” as used in relation to the law of charitable trusts, includes not only the training and development of the mind, but the training and development of the body.  Gibson v. Frye Institute, 106 S.W.1059, 1062, 137 Tenn. 4b2.  L.M.A.”

 

“...“Education” of a child means much more than merely communicating to it the contents of a book.  The physical and mental powers of the individual are so interdependent that no system of education would be complete which ignored bodily health.  State ex rel.  Stoltenberg v. Brown, 128 N.W. 294, 295, 112 Minn.370.

 

The word “education,” in the statement of a father's duty toward a child to the effect that it is his duty to provide for the child's education, means not merely instruction in the pursuits of literature, but comprehends a proper attention to the moral and religious sentiments of the child.  Commonwealth v. Armstrong, 1 Pa.Law J. 392-394.

 

“Education” is not confined to improvement and cultivation of mind, but may consist of cultivation of one's religious or moral sentiments, and likewise may consist in development of one's physical faculties.  Commissioners of District of Columbia v. Shannon & Luchs Const.  Co., 17 F.2d 219, 220, 57 App.D.C. 67.”

 

“...The purchase of athletic equipment by county board of education for use of pupils of county was not, ipso facto, an abuse of discretion warranting removal of members of board from office, since “education” is a broad term, embracing the development of both mind and body.  Code 1931, 6-6-1 et seq.  Wysong  v. Walden, W.Va., 196 S.E. 573, 578.  Helpers.”

 

“...“Education” contemplates not only mental and moral, but also physical training and welfare.  Property which was employed exclusively for physical “education” in attainment of moral and mental improvement of members of corporation which had been organized for moral and mental improvement of its members held exempt from taxation.  Buffalo Turn Verein  v. Reuling, 281 N.Y.S.545, 155 Misc. 797.”

 

“...Recreational training” Term “education,” embraces recreational training.  Dodge v. Jefferson County Board of Education, 181 S.W.2d 406, 408, 298 Ky.l.”

 

 

Sincerely,

 

__________________________

William E. Fields (GCNO)