Texas Church Wins Tussle With Tax-Man, Gets Exempt Status Restored
by Allie Martin
August 18, 2006
(AgapePress) - - In one Texas city, local government officials have been ordered to restore the tax-exempt status of a church that has been under a heavy tax burden for a number of years. In 1997, the building housing the Full Gospel Church of God in Christ in Wichita Falls burned down. Officials with the local tax assessor's office later presented the congregation with a large tax bill, claiming the church failed to rebuild quickly enough. Since then, Full Gospel COGIC has continued to be taxed annually on its vacant property.
These facts prompted the church to seek legal assistance. As a result, Liberty Legal Institute, an organization founded to help individuals, groups and churches fight for their religious freedoms and First Amendment rights, launched a lawsuit against the Wichita County Appraisal District on Full Gospel COGIC's behalf.
Hiram Sasser, Liberty Legal Institute's director of litigation, says the parties in the case have reached an agreement, however -- one that erases all back taxes and restores the church's tax-exempt status. "This is a huge victory," he observes, "because this church was essentially burned out of existence. And then, right when they had the opportunity to rebuild, the tax man came down and took all their money."
But now that the dispute with Wichita County has been resolved in the church's favor, Sasser points out, congregation members will not have to see their church encumbered and stripped of its resources due to a huge tax debt. "This is great for them to be able to get that money restored to them," he says.
The congregation's attorney believes religious discrimination may have been a factor in the case initially. "Certain churches face harassment by government officials," he says. "Many times it's churches that are on land the government would rather see a shopping mall on, so they'll harass the church there, or they might get in the way of development."
Also, Sasser notes, "This happened to be the first African-American church to exist on this particular side of town, so maybe there was something to that." But whatever the reasons, he asserts, the County Appraisal District officials tried to harass Full Gospel COGIC, and the congregation decided to fight for its rights -- and for its financial survival -- and won.
Still, the Liberty Legal Institute spokesman emphasizes his contention that churches and other faith-based institutions are always vulnerable to this kind of official discrimination or bureaucratic harassment. "The point is, any church, for any reason the government can come up with, can be picked on," he says.
Sasser is pleased with the outcome obtained for Full Gospel COGIC in this matter, not only because of what it means to the congregation but because of the demonstration value of the case. "This a great victory to show that churches who do stand up can win," he says.
With the dispute behind them, church officials say Full Gospel COGIC will now embark on a building program. The congregation's first order of business, they note, will be to proceed with plans to build a new worship center.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
