<http://doctorbulldog.wordpress.com/author/doctorbulldog/> Kansas Town Taxes Christians for Attending Sermons<http://doctorbulldog.wordpress.com/2010/12/22/kansas-town-taxes-christians-for-attending-sermons/> *doctorbulldog <http://doctorbulldog.wordpress.com/author/doctorbulldog/>* | 22 December, 2010 at 9:14 am | Categories: By Doctor Bulldog<http://doctorbulldog.wordpress.com/?category_name=by-doctor-bulldog>, Christians under attack<http://doctorbulldog.wordpress.com/?category_name=christians-under-attack>, politics <http://doctorbulldog.wordpress.com/?category_name=politics>, Religion <http://doctorbulldog.wordpress.com/?category_name=religion> | URL: http://wp.me/p1NPg-6Nv
*Is there anything a politician won't attempt to tax?:* *Town taxes Christians for listening to sermons* *'Driveway fee' assessed against churches based on number of seats in worship centers* *WND <http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.printable&pageId=242657>* Christians who attend worship services in a suburb of Kansas City will have to ante up for new thousand-dollar city "fees" that are being assessed against their churches based on the number of seats in their sanctuaries. That's if the scheme announced recently by officials in Mission, Kan., survives a court challenge that has been filed by the Alliance Defense Fund. "No one should be taxing church attendance, but that's what this tax does: It punishes churches based on their attendance," said Erik Stanley, a senior legal counsel for the organization. "Cleverly disguising a tax as a fee is just another way to penalize churches and other nonprofit organizations and charities by subverting their tax exemptions so the government can collect more money," he said. "This driveway tax is simply outrageous. Will we soon be seeing a 'sidewalk tax' based on the number of people who walk to church?" It was in August when the city council in Mission created Ordinance 1332 for a "Transportation Utility Fee." The law requires that owners of all property within city limits with improvements such as buildings or landscaping pay a fee, "which functions as an additional property tax." According to ADF, the ordinance itself specifies that owners of properties that are tax exempt under state law, such as churches, charities and nonprofit ministries, still must pay. For churches, the tax is based on an assumption about the number of vehicle trips. "Single family homes are assessed a fixed rate of $72 per year while 5.8 total weekly vehicle trips are estimated per worship facility seat to calculate the tax amount for churches," ADF said. Its lawsuit, filed Monday in district court in Johnson County, is on behalf of First Baptist Church of Mission and the Archdiocese of Kansas City. The Baptist church, billed nearly $1,000, and the Catholic diocese, billed some $1,700, agreed to take the lead in the battle over the new assessments on behalf of the town's churches. City officials declined to respond to a WND request for comment. Read more of this post<http://doctorbulldog.wordpress.com/2010/12/22/kansas-town-taxes-christians-for-attending-sermons/#more-26133> Add a comment to this post<http://doctorbulldog.wordpress.com/2010/12/22/kansas-town-taxes-christians-for-attending-sermons/#respond> <http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gocomments/doctorbulldog.wordpress.com/26133/> <http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godelicious/doctorbulldog.wordpress.com/26133/> <http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gofacebook/doctorbulldog.wordpress.com/26133/> <http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gotwitter/doctorbulldog.wordpress.com/26133/> <http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gostumble/doctorbulldog.wordpress.com/26133/> <http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godigg/doctorbulldog.wordpress.com/26133/> <http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/goreddit/doctorbulldog.wordpress.com/26133/> [image: WordPress] WordPress.com <http://wordpress.com/> | Thanks for flying with WordPress! Manage Subscriptions<http://subscribe.wordpress.com/?key=5d39acfd19218362d540a3fc3dc3315d&email=baconlard%40gmail.com>| Unsubscribe<http://subscribe.wordpress.com/?key=5d39acfd19218362d540a3fc3dc3315d&email=baconlard%40gmail.com&b=uoJ6YE718vE%5BXQyeRt%3FMTndylX83%5D%3D_hS%5DcJQyrvA>| Publish text, photos, music, and videos by email using our Post by Email <http://support.wordpress.com/post-by-email/> feature. *Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser:* http://subscribe.wordpress.com -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more.
