Utah Charter Schools don't have to pay property taxes

Charter schools are public schools.  State owned facilities, including charter schools, do not pay property taxes.  Facilities leased by the state or one of its subdivisions do have to pay property taxes.  Many states have exemptions for state facility leases, which would include schools, but Utah currently does not.

This is especially problematic for charter schools that are built by a developer as a stand-alone facility.  Charter schools leasing one of these new facilities must bear the added burden of paying tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in property tax expense.  Many schools have dreamed of having a waiver.  While there is no waiver, the summary below describes how schools may be able to take advantage of the property tax exemption by structuring their transaction appropriately. 

You can preview the overview below or download the document as a PDF here.