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By Steve Weatherbe
ONE of the holdovers from the days of state churches, which even the most ardent
Protestant is happy to accept, is the property tax exemption for places of
worship. But some people are not so happy with that tradition.
The Victoria Secular Humanist Association went to City Hall recently to begin
dismantling the exemption. They did not succeed; but they aren’t giving up. At least one Christian observer thinks churches will have to show
their usefulness to society if they hope to retain the privilege.
At issue are not the provincially-mandated exemptions for the land parcels on
which places of worship sit, but the so-called ‘permissive’ exemptions which municipalities choose to grant to attached land beyond the
actual churches.
The Victoria secularists did not ask city council to cancel this second class of
exemptions outright – but, as group representative Jill Stainforth told BC Christian News, rather to “require disclosure of the amount of money raised . . . such as [by] renting out
the halls and grounds and running thrift shops. We asked that organizations
disclose what they spend the money on, and where.”
Money spent on feeding the local poor would be justified, said Stainforth, “but sending funds overseas for missionary work should not be subsidized by local
taxpayers.”
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The province automatically exempts both places of worship and charities. Not all
B.C. municipalities exercise the option to exempt the attached properties.
The secularists also asked the city to require that all groups receiving the
exemption be “in full compliance with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”
September 2009
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