An appellate court in Illinois has held that the state legislature cannot expand the basis for hospital real estate tax exemption beyond the provisions of the state Constitution. It has remanded a claim for exemption by The Carle Foundation for four properties in Urbana, telling the trial court to determine whether they are being used for “charitable” purposes without regard for a new state law intended to set new standards for nonprofit hospital exemption in the state. Real estate tax exemption for nonprofit hospitals has been particularly controversial in Illinois for about a decade since the Wall Street Journal ran a front page article reporting that several exempt hospitals were not...