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Posted on 06/09/2009 5:22:09 AM PDT by kellynla
A hearing has been scheduled for Tuesday, June 16, in an appeal by the Archdiocese of San Francisco of an attempt by the City and County of San Francisco to levy up to $15 million in property taxes against the archdiocese.
A three-member board made up of the city treasurer, the city controller and the head of the city’s real estate division will hear the archdiocese’s appeal. Two of the three appeals board members – Treasurer Jose Cisneros and Real Estate Division head Amy L. Brown – have been active supporters of same-sex marriage. Cisneros is a member of the board of directors of the homosexual-rights group Equality California, a major player in attempts to legalize same-sex marriage in California. Brown has provided instruction to city workers on how to perform same-sex marriages, and was a donor to the unsuccessful No on 8 campaign. During the campaign, supporters of same-sex marriage repeatedly called for the revocation of the Church’s tax-exempt status because of support by California’s bishops for the constitutional amendment protecting traditional marriage.
“With Cisneros and Brown as two of the three members of the review board, will the Church get a fair hearing?” asks Gibbons Cooney, writing under the heading “San Francisco Versus the Church” on the blog A Shepherd’s Voice. “I doubt it. Look for this to end up in court, where public attorneys -- paid in part by the tax dollars of Catholics -- will try to hamstring the Church.”
The controversy arose following the internal transfer within the archdiocese in 2008 of 232 pieces of property. San Francisco County Recorder Phil Ting determined that the transfers were the equivalent of “sales” and therefore subject to property taxes. The estimated tax levy proposed by Ting would be between $3 million and $15 million.
(Excerpt) Read more at calcatholic.com ...
ping
“During the campaign, supporters of same-sex marriage repeatedly called for the revocation of the Church’s tax-exempt status because of support by California’s bishops for the constitutional amendment protecting traditional marriage. “
I expect this to happen to all churches that do not support government policies....nationwide.
I would say “Only in California” but, I remember several years ago (here in Beavercreek, OH) St Lukes Parish was hit with a special assessment for a streetscape project. The project was one of those where the local city council got a grant from the Feds provided they raised the remaining cost locally. Hence the special assessment. Every business along Dayton-Xenia and North Fairfield roads where the project was going in got assessed. Since the Church had the most frontage, they paid a larger share.
A lot of us were pissed that city council didn’t tell the Feds to keep their damn dollars. You know the argument - if we don’t take it, somewhere else will...
Now we have the streetscape sidewalks with bricked-in set-back light poles and, ..., power lines running everywhere. A real pretty sight.
Not even subtle. The gays are using the power to tax to destroy their enemy, the Catholic Church.
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