CALIFORNIA
East Bay Express
By Chris Thompson
Published: Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Thank God for child-molesting priests, I always say. On August 5, the Oakland diocese of the Catholic church announced it will pay $56.3 million to victims of sexual abuse, and sell $25.3 million in property to finance the deal. All that land will go back onto the tax rolls -- and it's about damn time. Ever since the founding of the republic, religious groups have ducked paying their fair share of property taxes, forcing the rest of us to carry those pious pikers. All you taxpayers sick of shelling out dough for cops and firefighters while bishops and ministers laugh all the way to the bank finally get a little payback.
Let's say all the land about to be sold were located in Oakland, which just barely avoided firing librarians and park rangers to settle a $32 million budget shortfall. That would score the city an extra $330,000 in annual property taxes, enough to hire a fleet of librarians. Or take Acts Full Gospel, the largest church in the East Bay, whose Oakland headquarters is assessed at $4,579,330. Two years ago, Bishop Bob Jackson led a mob down to City Hall and demanded the city do something about the homicide epidemic. If his church had paid the same taxes we all pay, Oakland would have about $59,000 in extra cash every year -- roughly a police officer's salary. Instead, Acts Full Gospel pays just $1,270 in parcel taxes and special assessments.
Hey, we could go down the list all day. Berkeley's Congregation Beth El, which is about to move into a new home on Oxford Street, should be paying more than twenty grand. It pays $1,478. Have I mentioned that Berkeley faced a $10.5 million deficit this summer? The headquarters of Concord's Calvary Temple megachurch is valued at $9,502,310, which should put church leaders on the hook for $105,790. They pay only $13,492.