Churches and the loss of Property Rights (vanity)

6/24/2005 | self

[kpp_kpp]

I am not the vanity posting type, nor am I usually an alarmist but this latest USSC ruling taking away our private property rights for increasted tax revenue... it is impossible to put into words the impact this is going to have on our country.

One area I'm interested in getting feedback on is that of Religious organizations and property tax. Obvouisly states can choose on their own to tax religious organizations if that is what they really wanted -- but that would probably not go over well as a state wide issue.

But now, with eminent domain expanded, local communities are free to take over non-revenue producing churches and transfer the to developers -- for the greater good of the community.

This may sound unfeasible to some in conservative-leaning areas (where it is "unthinkable"), but there are plenty of areas of the country where churches have a hard enough time getting and zoning property for their use.

It will start slowly, and at first it will just happen to religious organizations that aren't "mainstream" but the long term consequences of this decision are truly incomprehensible.

[krazyrep]

I never said it coudln't be done. I said it is impossible to specifically target a single entity without also targeting the surrounding area.

[krazyrep]

It would be more helpful if you stated how the dissent supposedly disagrees.

And I quite agree it IS a huge loss for private ownership, but the case itself quite clearly deals with a large parcel of property, not merely an individual lot within a larger untouched area.

[FreeInWV]

I thought this might interest you. Down in the article, it talks about taking church property to make room for a Costco. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1432960/posts