<p>I’m not sure the BRA or the BCC has any say in whether a non-profit can buy a building and convert it to non-profit use.</p>
<p>In Boston (and I think in most places) fares paid for bus/subway lines does not come close to paying the full cost; the MBTA assesses all the member towns some amount based on population and the level of services - for Boston it is large. </p>
<p>The colleges don’t pay for the roads leading to and from the schools, or to plow and maintain them. </p>
<p>The non-profits’ employees’ children are educated in the local public schools, which are funded primarily by property taxes in MA.</p>
<p>A school might have its own ambulance, but who is paying for the hospital it goes to (which is also probably a non-profit and therefore being supported by taxpayers)?</p>
<p>Etc. </p>
<p>They don’t exist in a vacuum.</p>
<p>This was discussed a few years ago here, there may be more information in that thread that is interesting:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1242946-should-universities-pay-property-taxes.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1242946-should-universities-pay-property-taxes.html</a></p>