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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (May 31, 1962)
8 E Religion in America THURSDAY, MAY 31. 1962 MEDFORD MAIL THIBUNt MEDFORD. OREGON Taxation of Church Property Undergoing Growing Scrutiny By LOUIS CASSELS UPI Correspondent Should churches pay taxes? That question is under growing scrutiny in America, I both by the l churches and by the courts. Church prop erty is now immune irom real estate taxes in all 50 states and the District of Co lumbia. The cassis income a e rived from church-owned business enterprises also is exempt from both federal and state taxation. Some Americans are op posed to any form of tax ex emption for religious organ izations. They argue that it is a form of government sub sidy which violates the con stitutional principle of separa tion of church and state. Others contend that the Constitution itself confers tax immunity on churches. They point out that the First Amendment prohibits inter ference with the "free exer cise" of religion, and they assert that if the government had the power to tax relig ious organizations, it would be in a position to control or even destroy them. Turn Down Review Last month, the U.S. Su preme Court refused to re view a state courts unan imous ruling that property tax exemptions for churches are constitutional. The high court held, 8-1, that "no sub stantial federal question" was presented by the case This ruling may settle-for a while at least-the legal de bate over tax exemptions for land and buildings which are actually used as places of worship. But there are other areas of controversy which were not covered by this case. For example, if a church happens to own a profit-mak ing business enterprise-such as a printing plant, a depart ment store, a winery or an apartment house-should the income be subject to the same 52 per cent tax which the federal . government would levy on a private corporation engaged in the same business? Church Business Growing Under present law and pol icy, the Internal Revenue Service makes no attempt to assess income taxes against any business enterprise own ed by a church, however re mote its activities may be from religious worship. As a result, churches have been going into competitive, profit making businesses on a grow ing scale. There are church owned hotels, bakeries, ware houses, radio stations, office buildings, parking lots, print ing firms, and similar busi- Grange News Phoenix Grange The lecture program pre ceded the regular meeting of Phoenix Grange last week with J. H. Creager, of the Pa cific Northwest Bell company, explaining how to use the all digit system in making tele phone calls and why it was necessary for this develop ment. Charles Hockersmith and Merviti Hixon both read re ports concerning farming and its effect in the country's wel fare. . Some hail damage was re ported by Vaughn Quacken bush. He said that other areas have been planting Bartlett pears, but that this valley is looking for other varieties at this time. Mrs. Hockersmith, who re ported for the Home Econom ics club, reminded women how to prepare cookies if they were interested in participat ing in the fair display. Mrs. Olive Floyd was elect ed to become a member of the Grange. She is a former member of Phoenix. Thirteen members of Phoe' nix Grange took the fifth de gree and became Pomona members during the program at Central Point Grange re cently. Gold Hill Grange Gold Hill Grange met re cently with Master Wilbur Martin presiding. Three can didates were elected to mem bership and one new member was obligated in first and sec ond degrees. Reports were heard from standing committee The lec ture hour program consisted of an entertainment, "Modern Times Through Ancient Eyes," presented by the sixth and seventh grade students of Mil dred Black. John Patrick will talk on 4-H work at the Grange meet ing June 7. The Grange pot luck suppers were called off during the summer months because of conflicting activities. nesses in many parts of the country. The Roman Catholic Church and the Mormon Church are most often men tioned in this connection, but a number of Protestant churches are also engaged in tax-free business operations. One tempting opportunity which many churches have been unable to resist is the so-called "sale and lease back" deal. A business firm sells its physical property to a religious body, then leases it back and continues opera tions as before. The tax ex emption which results from technical church "ownership" of the venture enables both the church and the private operator to proxit substan tially from such a transac tion. Some Protestants Troubled Some Protestants are deep ly troubled about what they regard as abuses of the tax exemptions granted to church es. The Rev. Dr. Eugene Car son Blake, stated clerk of the U ni ted Presbyterian Church, has asserted publicly on several occasions recently that churches should pay reg ular corporate tax rates "on income from business unre lated to the religious purpose of the church." Dr. Blake also believes that churches should voluntarily make payments in lieu of taxes to help their communi ties provide the police and fire protection and other services paid for by local property taxes. The Baptist joint commit tee on public affairs has tak en the position that "earn ings from businesses which have no direct connection with the religious purposes of the church should pay in come taxes. Wins Legal Victories Although the Internal Rev enue Service has been re luctant to challenge the tax exempt status of any business which is clearly "church owned," it has been trying to limit the definition of what constitutes a church for tax exemption purposes. And it has recently won two legal victories on this front. In December, a federal court approved a settlement under which the IRS collected some $3.5 million in back in come taxes from the Chris tian Brothers of California, one of the nation's largest producers of wine and bran dy. IRS contended that the Christian Brothers, although Historian Gives Hobby to Institute Huntsville, Ala. -(UPB Paul H. Satterfield, a historian with the federal space agency here, earned a niche in the Smith sonian Institution with h i s hobby. Satterfield, who says he just happened on the hobby collecting old newspapers donated to the institution 177 newspapers chronicling the history of American politics. They were added to the Smithsonian's reference de partment files. A bachelor, Satterfield be gan his collection back in the early years of the century with several old newspapers which his family had saved. As he grew older, he amassed a collection which before the donation to the Smithsonian was "crowding me out of the house." The oldest paper dates to 1896. The Chicago Daily Inter-Ocean, no longer publish ed, sold for two cents a copy, carried no pictures, and edi torialized liberally in the news columns. Now his clipping file re ceives more attention than the collecting of whole newspa pers. The clipping file, also do nated to the Smithsonian, in cluded hundreds of assorted clippings covering politics in bygone years. It closes a gap in historical files caused by an inability of most museums and libraries to keep a file on bulky newspapers before mi crofilm recordings was developed. & related to the Catholic Church, performed no "sacer dotal functions" in their wineries, and were therefore not a church. In February, the Supreme Court sustained an IRS claim that Scripture Press Founda tion of Wheaton, 111., an in dependent private organiza tion which sells Sunday school materials to many small Protestant denomina tions, is not entitled to tax exemption. Had Scripture Press happened to be owned hv a church, however, it would be tax exempt even if it chose to publish comic books or racing forms. RADIO STILL POPULAR Chicago - IUPD - Radios def initely are not going the way of the buggy whip. Ameri cans bought more radios last year than in any previous year except 1947, a radio manufacturer reported. 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San Francisco - Miguel Tejada, consul general of the Dominican Republic, commenting on the first anniversary ot the death of dictator Gen. Rafael Trujillo: "It is a pity that the death of men U reason for his countrymen to rejoice ... It might even seem d"tic. were it not for the feet that the extermination of Trujillo alio pju an end to a reign of terror that lasted 32 years . . . Miami - The Miami Herald, in an editorial comment em President Kennedy's cancellation of his subscription to the New York Herald Tribune: . "All that has happened to the Herald Tribune ii to get banned at 1600 Pennsylvania ave.. or so to speak, in Boston. "MEDFORD'S FINEST MEATS SINCE 1940" 1 ONE HALF POUND CAN OF DANISH Sliced Bacon With the Purchase of LB. PKG. 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