On July 28th, activists set up a table at CCB Plaza to canvass Durham residents about fair taxation of Duke University. Sunday's event was organized by Duke Respect Durham, a coalition of twenty community groups that are pressuring the university to make voluntary payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT).
Duke University owns about 12 percent of land in the city of Durham [1] [2]. As an educational institution, the university is exempt from what would be tens of millions of dollars in property tax on its non-commercial holdings. Duke University and Duke Health System paid only $3.7 million in property taxes in 2023 [3].
According to Duke Respect Durham, the table at CCB Plaza saw plenty of foot traffic because of an open-air market on Foster Street. Handing out fliers and striking up conversations, the canvassers asked Durham residents, “What can Durham do with $50 million?” The most common replies were that a PILOT from Duke University should be used to fund Durham Public Schools, Durham Housing Authority, and GoDurham.
The PILOT movement in Durham has been inspired by successful movements at Yale University, the University of Pennsylvania, and other elite schools. In 2021, a campaign called Yale Respect New Haven pressured the university to increase its annual PILOT to $23 million [4].
In 2020, the University of Pennsylvania agreed to make a $10 million PILOT to Philadelphia Public Schools in response to criticism that the university wasn’t doing enough to promote education in its own backyard. The concession came after years of pressure from “Philadelphia Jobs With Justice, a pro-labor nonprofit … [and] Penn for PILOTs, the first campaign led by staff and faculty members” [5].
At the July 28th event, one Durham resident said, “I know a lot of Duke professors. They choose to live in Chapel Hill because they want to send their kids to decent public schools”. The resident signed the Duke Respect Durham petition, along with dozens of other people who stopped by the campaign’s table [6]. According to Niche, an education website, Durham Public Schools is ranked 55th out of 115 school districts in North Carolina [7].
The total value of Duke University property is unclear. The most recent, reliable figure comes from a 1998 Duke Chronicle article in which a university public relations official estimated "somewhat over $900 million, theoretically obligating Duke to pay some $15 million in taxes across the county and the city" [8]. Adjusted for inflation, that property would now be worth $1.7 billion.
However, property values in Durham have risen faster than inflation in recent decades. The House Price Index for Durham-Chapel Hill has more than tripled since 1998 [9]. If the index’s increase is applied, Duke University property would be worth around $2.9 billion, not accounting for property bought or sold since 1998. If that rough estimate is accurate, Duke University is exempt from about $40 million in property taxes each year [10].
The canvassers said that not everyone they talked to agreed with the PILOT campaign. A group of young men scoffed at the idea of Duke University paying property taxes and said the reason is because “That’s our alma mater!”
According to Duke Respect Durham, the PILOT campaign is working to show people connected to Duke University that there’s no contradiction between having fond college memories and demanding that the wealthy institution help to fund basic public services like education, housing, and transit. With a $12 billion endowment, Duke University can certainly afford to pay its fair share.
Work Cited
“Duke Facts.” Facts, 23 July 2024, https://facts.duke.edu.
“Durham: By the Numbers”. City of Durham, 2020, www.durhamnc.gov/DocumentCenter/View/34785/Durham-By-the-Numbers-English-FY20.
Mungai, Mary. “Durham City Councilman Proposes Duke Pay “Fair Share” in Property Taxes” The Durham VOICE. 14 Mar. 2024, https://durhamvoice.org/durham-city-councilman-proposes-duke-pay-fair-share-in-property-taxes/
Rayala, Sai. “City and University Officials Announce Six-year Commitment, Increases to Yale’s Voluntary Contribution.” Yale Daily News, 19 Nov. 2021, https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2021/11/17/city-and-university-officials-announce-six-year-commitment-increases-yales-voluntary-contribution.
Stallion, Molly. “Activists Question Whether Wealthy Universities Should Be Exempt From Property Taxes.” The Hechinger Report, 18 Dec. 2020, https://hechingerreport.org/activists-question-whether-wealthy-universities-should-be-exempt-from-property-taxes.
“President Price and CEO Albanese: Let’s Work Toward a Just Durham.” https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/dukerespectdurham.
“Durham Public Schools.” Niche, www.niche.com/k12/d/durham-public-schools-nc.
Burness, John. “Dismiss Durham’s Idea to Tax Duke’s Dime.” Duke Chronicle, 15 Apr. 1998, www.dukechronicle.com/article/dismiss-durhams-idea-tax-dukes-dime.
“All-Transactions House Price Index for Durham-Chapel Hill, NC”. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, 28 May 2024, https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/ATNHPIUS20500Q.
“Tax Rates.” Durham County, 2024, www.dconc.gov/county-departments/departments-f-z/tax-administration/tax-rates.
Whenever Duke faces scrutiny, we always hear someone say that without Duke there would be no Durham.
This is backwards.
Without the generosity of Durham citizens there’d be no Duke University today.
It was a Durham citizen who saved Trinity College from bankruptcy more than 100 years ago. (Julian Carr was also a white supremacist who helped fund the white mob in Wilmington in 1898.)
It was Durham citizens who banded together and donated free land and money to move the struggling rural college to West Durham.
A Durham citizen donated the land under East Campus as a gift. Durham citizens pooled money and donated Southgate dorm as a gift.
It was a Durhamite, born and raised in Durham, who…