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1	We need to preserve our tax base. We need to keep it as
2	equitable as possible to remove inequities and these needs
3	become greater as reliance upon property taxes increases
4	as the burden of property tax gets greater.
5	Equity is a fine thing when it's a matter of
6	academic interest, if you have a tight burden of taxes,
7	but when the burden becomes heavy and it makes a difference
8	between economic survival for particular people or particul
9	businesses or enterprises, then it becomes a matter which
10	is a subject of- considerable effort for removal of the
11	burden of taxation for preferential treatment.
12	In the light of this circumstance, which is the
13	emerging context, we are in a situation where there has bee
14	a tremendous proliferation of demands for exemptions and
15	preferential tax treatment. We have certain historic
16	exemptions, which I am not concerned about. The question
17	of whether a hospital or a charitable activity or an
18	educational institution should be exempt from the burden
19	of tax, I think, is one that is pretty well settled. It is
20	unfortunate, for the purposes of my discussion, that the
21	importance of the exemption of religious institutions is on