Children's Psychiatric Hospital of Northern Kentucky, Inc. v. Revenue Cabinet

I concur with the majority opinion insofar as it holds that the Revenue Cabinet can collect the 2 1/2% hospital provider tax from hospitals which are not “institutions of purely public charity” as that phrase is used in Section 170 of the Constitution of Kentucky. However, I dissent insofar as the majority opinion holds that the tax can be collected from hospitals which are institutions of purely public charity.

Our present constitution was ratified in 1891. As initially adopted, Section 170 read as follows:

There shall be exempt from taxation public property used for public purposes; places…