Taking Liberties: Taxing Church Attendance?

foxnews.com ^ | 3-10-11 | Douglas Kennedy

[rawhide]

In August, the small town just north of Kansas City passed the so-called “driveway tax,” a controversial charge, in addition to property taxes, for residents and businesses based on the number of times their driveway is used.

A big box store like Target can pay over $60,000 annually, while residents pay a flat rate of $72 dollars a year

The purpose of the “Transportation Utility Fee” is to raise money for public works projects in Mission like street construction and road repair

It’s unpopular among residents, some of whom have put up protest signs on their yards.

But it’s particularly controversial because the town has included churches in the program.

The Baptist church for instance has to pay 900 dollars a year, while the more popular St. Pius is charged $1700 a year.

Stanley, who is an attorney for the Alliance Defense Fund, a national organization that protects religious rights, is now representing the two churches in a lawsuit against Mission.

He calls the revenue program “a tax on church attendance.”

“The city of mission is taxing churches based on the number of people that come in and out of their driveway, the number of people that come to church,” he said.

Mission’s Mayor Laura McConwell, who has overseen the proposal and implementation of the program disagrees.

“This is not a tax,” She said in a telephone interview. “This is a fee.”

Mission has maintained the town is simply charging a “fee for service. ” City officials say they charge similar fees for water and electricity.

“That is clever,” said Stanley. “But it’s not going to work.”

He says the charge is clearly a property tax issue, and he says any judge will see it that way. “This is not a fee for service,” he said. “This is a tax.”

[ALPAPilot]

Mission has maintained the town is simply charging a “fee for service. ” City officials say they charge similar fees for water and electricity.

If the water or electricity fees are not paid, the service is shut down. If the driveway tax isn't paid, what will the city do? Shut the church down? When the local sherif comes to evict the congregation from the church, its time to get the guns.

[Lees Swrd]

Ok thats a good deal.TRAK phone must have changed since I used it used to be close to .70 a minute that is why I switched to Net10, anyway they both have good service as they use everyone elses towers lol,

[ReverendJames]

Yeah. I broke my original TRAK phone. Called them up and they made me a deal on a camera phone for $20 -and- double minutes. So now I pay $10 a month for 100 minutes. They just keep adding up and I like the roll-over. Verizon used to cancel what I had and I had to start over. They would keep whatever minutes I had left. Crooks!

[Foolsgold]

If I was Target I would move to another town, now lose $60,000 Driveway “Fee” and all the jobs and sales tax income.”The Law of unintended Consequences.”