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Tax haven - The Yale Herald <br />"It is something akin to a plantation economy <br />arrangement." <br />Yale's tax exemption is ancient, dating back to <br />1745 in the days before Connecticut was a <br />state, decades before the Revolutionary War. <br />The colonial government decided then that as <br />the university's stated aim was to provide a <br />public good — specifically the instruction of <br />Protestant ministers —it should not be subject <br />to taxes on its educational property. Yale's <br />charter was explicitly referenced in <br />Connecticut's state constitution, where it <br />remains today, cementing the university's tax - <br />exempt status in the holiest document of the <br />land. <br />In the 300 -plus years that Yale has been <br />located in New Haven, heated arguments over <br />taxes have more than once been brought to <br />and settled in state courtrooms. In the late <br />189Os, the city attempted to tax certain Yale <br />dormitories, arguing that they did not serve an <br />explicitly educational purpose. That attempt <br />failed. In Yale University v. New Haven, an <br />1899 Connecticut Supreme Court case, the <br />court issued the city a crushing defeat, holding <br />that the dormitories did indeed exclusively <br />serve educational functions and hence were <br />entirely exempt from municipal taxation. <br />Page 5 of 18 <br />http: / /yaleherald.com/homepage -lead- image /cover- stories /tax - haven/ 10/23/2014 <br />