How much profit can a not-for-profit hospital make? A defense of the property tax exemption.

After St. Luke's Regional Medical Center in Boise, Idaho, reported a profit of $18 million, Ada County revoked its property tax exemption as a not-for-profit and billed St. Luke's for $3.4 million in property taxes. This article describes how St. Luke's successfully defended its tax exemption in an appeal to the Idaho Board of Tax Appeals and how proposed legislation would reduce uncertainty about taxation of not-for-profit hospitals in Idaho.