Broughton v. Town of Charlotte

In Broughton v. Town of Charlotte, 134 Vt. 270, 356 A.2d 520 (1976), the issue was whether an owner who leases her land to an educational nonprofit is entitled to the "land owned" exemption. The Court held that she was not, because ownership is as important a component of the exemption as use. The Court stated the "prevailing Vermont rule concerning the exemption of land under the "lands owned" clause" was the one stated in Willard and then quoted the above passage. Id. at 274, 356 A.2d at 522-23. The Court continued, "obviously, then, the rule to be followed in Vermont in respect to real property . . . is that there can be no freedom from taxation unless the property is both owned by a qualified body and used by such a body in pursuit of one of its exempt purposes." Id. at 274, 356 A.2d at 523 .