Sample Models

Model 5.12: ANP BOCR - Regardless of the Legal Definitions, Should UPMC be Considered Taxable or Tax-Exempt

Short Description

In this model, we have tried to weigh these various opinions and facts to make a decision from the viewpoint of a Pittsburgh citizen. To do so, we tried to come up with all of the effects the change of the tax-status would have on three separate entities: UPMC, the local government filing the lawsuit, and most importantly, the Pittsburgh community itself. To suit the model, the effects would be broken down into four categories: Costs, Benefits, Opportunities, and Risks. Our Costs and Benefits were those that were clearly defined and would absolutely occur; whereas, the Opportunities and Costs were those effects that we thought could or would happen depending on the tax status. At the end of the day, there were only two statuses UPMC could hold: Taxable or Tax-Exempt. With that in mind, we used these as our two alternatives for the question we were trying to answer. When we came up with the question, it started simply as “Should UPMC be taxable or tax-exempt?”, but the more we thought about it, the more we refined our question for the purposes of doing this analysis. Some people may argue that by definition, UPMC is a non-profit, and hence should be tax-exempt by law, so we wanted to take that factor out of the question. We also did not want our benefits, costs, opportunities, and risks of UPMC being tax-exempt to just be “status quo” since that is their present status. In order to take a more objective viewpoint, we stepped back and thought about the question as if UPMC was taxable currently, what the effects would be to switch, and if it was tax-exempt currently, what the effects would be to switch. Based on that line of thought, we framed our question as follows: All else equal and regardless of the legal definitions, should UPMC be considered taxable or tax-exempt? This question is asked from the perspective of a City of Pittsburgh community member, taking into account the respective implications on the community, local government, and UPMC itself.

In order to get access to the Model files you have to be registered and logged in.