Alaska judge rules that church-owned homes are tax-exempt
Published Friday, July 4, 2008
Digg
del.icio.us
Facebook
Mixx
Reddit
Stumble It!ANCHORAGE -- Homes owned by a prominent Anchorage church for teachers at its private school will remain exempt from local taxes under a decision by a Superior Court judge.
In his ruling Thursday, Judge Mike Spaan said a new state law exempting organization-owned homes of religious educators is constitutional.
Spaan said the exemption applies to all churches as well as residences of secular nonprofit educators as long as they are vitally necessary to the tax-exempt purpose.
At issue was a 2006 law passed by state lawmakers explicitly exempting church-owned religious teachers' housing from local taxes. The law was passed after the Municipality of Anchorage refused a tax exemption for six homes owned by the Anchorage Baptist Temple, saying the existing broad religious exemption did not apply to teachers.
Churches and church-owned homes of clergy have historically been exempt from property taxes. Those challenging the law said that including housing for non-clergy teachers was stretching it too far.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska and a group of activists sued to have the exemption declared unconstitutional. The state defended the law with help from the Anchorage Baptist Temple and other churches.
Spaan's decision says tax exemptions are provided to religious and charitable organizations because they perform services that would otherwise have to be funded from tax revenues, and because they foster the moral and intellectual development of the community.
The state Legislature has chosen to extend the exemption to property used for educational purposes, so "it is logical to read the statute ... to include residences for educators," Spaan said.
Spaan disagreed with the ACLU's argument that the law could be applied unequally by requiring a nonreligious group to prove a teacher's house was vital to its mission.
Community Discussion
Newsminer.com doesn't necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post. Read our full user's agreement.
Can anyone tell me how churches and other religious property ever became tax exempt? What prompted that? I notice that many church vehicles have special license plates. Are they exempt from registration fees? I'm not saying yea or nea, so don't beat me up to badly for bringing it up. I'm just curious.
Not too sure on where it actually came from but...
"Spaan's decision says tax exemptions are provided to religious and charitable organizations because they perform services that would otherwise have to be funded from tax revenues, and because they foster the moral and intellectual development of the community."
It came from the inital land settlement laws in the homestead act fot the lower fourty-eight, For each 36 section township one section went for Government, one went for education, and church land for buildings was not taxed by the locals. Of course at that time there was not any concept of property taxes, all taxes were useage taxes. MRD
Repeal them all. Let each one apply to be a non-profit agency if they perform a service. Hello, why on earth would a church school/tecahers houses be exempt? Our Taxes already pay for the same service, EDUCATION. It seems like most religious schools charge a tuition, make them pay their taxes out of that.
I think automatically giving them exemption is absurd, especially for the reason given, that they may perform a service that would otherwise be funded from tax revenues, is absolute crap. Has anyone heard of the separation of Church and State? People need to have secular options for services too, not just religious ones.
Post a comment
Commenting requires registration.