As revealed by the Cypress City Council 'proFITS'
Posted on 05/30/2002 8:46:27 AM PDT by TroutStalker
Edited on 04/22/2004 11:46:33 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
The Good Book instructs us to render unto Caesar what is his. But what do you do when Caesar casts his greedy eye on your local church -- in order to replace it with a discount retailer?
This tale comes from Orange County, California, once known as Reagan Country. On Tuesday night the Cypress City Council voted 4-0 to invoke its powers of eminent domain to seize land owned by the Cottonwood Christian Center, which would then be sold to Costco. The growing non-denominational Christian church had bought the mostly vacant land in 1999 because its existing building was bursting at the seams.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Kind of on both sides of this one, as a pastor. On the one hand, I can see the benefits to the church from tax-exemption. On the other hand, if we paid property taxes like every other business, then no one could stifle us when we speak out on issues of the day. Just a thought...fire away!
The prospect of a tax base against a mega story skycraper versus a tax exempt church will be too much for liberal land thief politicians to ignore.
Of course. It has already happened, I believe.
a.cricket
Piffle. I'd bet you against 100-1 odds they could balance the budget if they'd just cut some perks and pork. They'd rather not, because of -- all together now -- greed.
Bingo! The dirty secret that no one wants to admit to is that churches are businesses. They sell religion and a bunch of other stuff. Tax them like everyone else. The state should not be promoting religious organizations by giving them a free ride on taxes.
Richard W.
That's just it right there. If Costco is for public use so is a church. I don't understand how one agent of the governement can take away property from someone and then turn around and sell it to someone else. This is nuts. No one is safe if this is actually legal.
It is a 'tough call'. I can see not taxing 'the big house', the actual sanctuary, as a community center. All of the camps, schools, universities, and athletic complexes which normally 'charge fees', like businesses, should not be exempt just because they are held under church ownership. My humble opinion. The City Council deciding 'best use and purpose' must assume THEY know God's will. {;~)
As a former city council member, I do not agree with the Cypress City Council’s decision...
One would think that the bad publicity surrounding this issue would cause Costco to abandon its proposal to purchase the property. If it doesn’t, therein lies the greed.
Question, who is going to initiate force to obtain the property, Costco or the Cypress City government? Greed is not a violation of any person's rights or private-property rights. Also, how about bad publicity surrounding this issue causing the Cypress City government to abandon it's illegal initiation of force.* Unjust laws and laws applied beyond their intended purpose are violations in themselves. Here's a novel idea, how about Cypress City government doing the right thing and respect the rule of just law.
*Government having a monopoly on initiating force is the only one that can get away with such plundering. Doing so under the color of law as if that legitimizes initiation of force. The reason I say plundering is that to a property owner the value of their property could easily be worth much more to them than what the market value is. For example, what is the value of the back yard property where a person's grandparents are buried? Like a family heirloom, it could be priceless to the owner.
You'd have to pry mine from my cold, dead hands, LOL.
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