I investigate whether the hospital tax‐exemption decision is a function of (1) reported profits and (2) the amount of charitable care provided. Tax practitioners from public accounting firms made decisions about whether the hospital should maintain federal and state income tax and local property tax exemptions. A between‐subject design was used with cases at two dimensions: reported profits (high and low) and level of charitable care (high and low).
Findings revealed that the main effects of reported profits and charitable care do not independently appear to affect respondents' perceptions about tax exemption. However, when charitable care is low, respondents' perceptions about tax exemption were negatively influenced by high reported profits.
