Political & Elections

catahoula · Guru

Does this seem right to you?

BigG · Guru

Maybe we will "luck out" and get a series of benevolent despots?

catahoula · Guru

Raiseing water and sewage rates would be a better tack to finance needed services. No one expects churches to get free water and poop removal. Almost everyone expects churches to be exempt from taxes.

If I'm not mistaken, they've raised those too.

Fwiw: I'm not in Houston proper but only in its "extraterritorial jurisdiction" which means the esteemed mayor and members of the city council were selected without my help or input - which is precisely the situation preferred by the same, no doubt about it.

Times change, cartera, I admit, and the practicality of doing good works without a government acronymn on your letterhead seems to be one of the things that's drifting out of style, favor, and remit of taxation. I suppose I could go along with soccerguy and the idea that everybody ought to have to pay but the fact that the church's replacement, the government, exempts its ownself gives me an itch.

Incrementalism is the doom of the Western world, I'm afraid.

Tom1944 · Senior Member

At one time the Unification Church was in danger of losing their tax exempt status. All the major religious groups stepped in and defended the Unification Church's exemption.

-- Edited by Tom1944 on Tuesday 28th of December 2010 04:53:55 PM

Cartera · Guru

I don't have a problem with targeting churches, but that's my personal bias showing.

BigG · Guru

Political firestorm followed by "throw the bums out"...?

Recall petitions?

If the evangelicals in Texas pick up on this one, it is not just radioactive for the officials pushing it, it is a black hole or maybe even the heat death of the universe for their political careers.

Raiseing water and sewage rates would be a better tack to finance needed services. No one expects churches to get free water and poop removal. Almost everyone expects churches to be exempt from taxes.

soccerguy315 · Guru

everyone wants someone else to pay for their benefit. All benefiting parties of new expenditures should pay their share, IMO.

catahoula · Guru

Considering the good they do, should churches continue to be exempt from taxation?

Facing budget gaps and an aversion to new debt and taxes, states and local governments are slapping residents with an array of new fees—and some are applying them to nonprofits.
That marks a sharp departure from long-standing tax exemptions mandated by state law or adopted on the theory that churches, schools and charitable organizations work alongside governments to provide services to the community.
Houston's taxpayers in November narrowly voted to adopt a "drainage fee" to raise at least $125 million a year toward the cost of improving roads and storm-water systems. The city will charge fees to property owners, and it won't grant exceptions to churches, schools and charities.
A number of groups—including schools, businesses, churches and senior citizens—are demanding exemptions. "We'll defeat this," says David Welch, of the Houston Area Pastor's Council, who plans to lobby state legislators in January. "This is really a tax. It is the first time that churches would not be exempt from property taxes," he says. Some opponents have filed suit claiming the ballot wording was misleading.

The fact the City of Houston would like a fresh pot of money to wallow in is hardly a surprise (the Harris County Flood Control District could have simply tried to raise the millage but that wouldn't have caught the fresh fish this one does) but that they've set their sights on non-profits seems kind of wrong to me.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703548604576038080723678202.html