according to the daily rag today, 50 office workers and the pious rev will be moving into the existing buildings - will this be enough for the rev to claim "church" status and stop paying any tax on this property??? Come on Marci, let's get to the getting...
Of course it will allow him to claim church property status. He will never pay a dime of taxes on that property. He will just stop paying it. If the town goes after him for it, he will just sue some more. Futhermore, I predict that he will start holding small services there in the present state of the property. These services will ever so gradually increase in size over the next year.
Do you want to see something on the front page of the NYT's? Legal or not, can you imagine anyone in RT going down there and telling him that he can not hold church services in his own building? Never happen - - - the headlines would be completely overwhelming.
So, he is in and he won. The olde foot in the door trick did work. And RT has not even had a "foul-tip" since the beginning of this mess - - - just one strikeout after another. RT should be very embarassed by its lack of political clout and street smarts. The government certainly did not protect our best interests. We have had to do that ourselves.
For some reason, I'm thinking the tax exempt status only applies to the actual location where church services are held--and for that reason the entire ratable wasn't going to be lost...or something like that?
Yeah I understand what you're saying but I think it's like, the percentage of the place that's actually used for the church services... kind of like the office-in-the-home business that they put you through at the IRS. What percentage of the home is used for business, what percentage of the time, etc.
With an ego as big as Irelands, I am sure that he will insist that he needs a good 265,000 square feet for his message to the lord to resonate between the walls of his chapel before they are thrust forward for G-d to have to listen to and consider, even if he does not have a minyan present at the site. And who is going to argue with that logic??
Answer:
Nobody
Why?
Because when you invent a religion, you also invent the rules. When you invent the rules to a religion, nobody in government can call you to task on it. Remember, you can worship a coke bottle if you want to and that is perfectly Kosher in the eyes of the government. If you define that as your diety, so be it. If you say that you need to put your precious coke bottle in the middle of a 165,000 ft ^2 monument in order to worship it, that is also your right as a religious charleton.
BTW - did you ever see the movie "The gods must be crazy?"
Unfortunately, I think we lose the tax ratable as soon as as the property starts housing "church" operations. it doesnt have to be the actual service taking place. As a matter of fact, I wouldnt be surprised if the property became tax exempt as soon as the non-profit "church" took ownership.
It should be public information. Make a quick call to the township tax office.
