Is it right, that the tax involved was property tax in the state of New York?
Actually, I believe it was the City of NY that was attempting to revoke the exemption.
If they paid the tax from 1971 to 1974 is there public record?
But the city lost the case, so I don't think they would have had to pay?
I looked up 25 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn, BBL 3-00204-0001/0, and came up with no payment history.
97 and 107 Columbia Heights are registered to WTS as a multi-unit dwelling and pay a $13 fee per year for each.
http://nycserv.nyc.gov/NYCServWeb/NYCSERVMain
None of the property I checked had records on this website dating back to the 1970s though. Just a random bit of info.