SUNBURY — Less than a month after Union County and the Lewisburg Area School District made a hasty retreat from a plan to tax a church’s social hall, a similar battle is playing out in Wyoming County, which is trying to tax a building that is not specifically geared toward religious use.
Northmoreland Baptist Church in Tunkhannock is defending a position on churches and real estate taxes, even though church exemptions from taxes is a fundamental proposition of the Pennsylvania Constitution and state law.
The church recently built a facility and Wyoming County wants its share in taxes from the all-purpose room of the church, even though it recognizes that there is a religious exemption under the law.
Wyoming County claims the room — used for such activities as Bible studies, Sunday school classes, religious training for children, vacation Bible school, and outreach ministries — does not qualify.
Wyoming County’s actions are part of a trend occurring in other parts of Pennsylvania and the United States, where local governments are attempting to tax churches after age-old traditions of exemptions. Tax exemption serves to keep government out of church affairs and rewards churches for the significant service they provide to their communities.
The case is similar to that of the Lewisburg Alliance Church, Supplee Mill Road, which received a tax bill for more than $40,000 in 2010 for its new Family Life Center.
The bill included taxes from Union County, East Buffalo Township and the Lewisburg Area School District.
Union County commissioners later declared the property in question tax-exempt.
But apparently county tax assessor George Zeyn and the school district did not get the message. The church next received a tax bill for $16,000. What could have turned into a nasty fight over tax assessment was diffused when the commissioners reminded the Lewisburg school board that a church’s community center was deemed tax-exempt.
Several calls to Zeyn were not returned.
Colin Hanna, president of the Pennsylvania Pastors’ Network and Let Freedom Ring, said Friday: “Government is all about separation of church and state when churches want to speak out about public policy matters, but when they see an opportunity to take money they are not entitled to, it’s suddenly a different story. Church facilities should always be entitled to full tax exemption. The only exception should be for truly commercial activities, like a church-owned restaurant, coffee shop or business, and even then, there should be an assumption that it’s tax free unless the state can prove that the use of the property in question is unrelated to religious expression.”
For more information about Pennsylvania Pastors’ Network visit www.papastors.net.
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