Man declares his house a church... and gets the tax break!

[MattusMaximus]

WTF?!!

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-lake-bluff-church-17-jul17,0,5397208.story


Lake Bluff man declares his home a church, gets tax break

State gives Lake Bluff estate a religious break worth $80,000 in property tax, but village says not so fast to pastor-owner

By Susan Kuczka | Chicago Tribune reporter
11:06 PM CDT, July 16, 2008

When George Michael placed a cross on the side of his lakefront mansion, neighbors assumed the decoration was simply a display of the man's religious faith.

What his neighbors didn't know is that Michael had decided to convert his $3 million residence into the Armenian Church of Lake Bluff, qualifying him for a nearly $80,000 break on his annual property tax bill.

Now, locals are questioning whether the property is a church at all. Village officials wonder how they'll be able to make up the lost revenue, and residents worry that their share of the tax burden will grow as a result.

Meanwhile, Lake Bluff officials notified Michael that if he is running a church, he'll need to pay more than $115,000 in fines for failing to get the village's permission, setting up a possible court battle.

...

[AgeGap]

All the locals should visit on a Sunday. Eat his bread and have a glass or two of his wine. He may get fed up after a while.
The real scandal is that anyone gets a tax break for being a church.

[INRM]

Actually, Fred Phelps the crazy nutjob Pastor does that with his house (although it does have a church in the basement)...


INRM

[Modified]

He's paying over 80K a year in property tax on a 3 million dollar property? I don't blame him. That's about 2 1/2 times what you would pay here.

[mijopaalmc]

deleted because of egregious factual error

[MattusMaximus]

My wife and I were talking about this yesterday. What we're waiting to see is if this is allowed, what are the neighbors going to do? How many other 'churches' are going to start popping up all over that community in an effort to avoid paying property taxes?

At the very least, this situation will offer some real laughs. I plan on following it.

[GreyICE]

Hell, why not? If all I have to do is place a large decoration on my property and it becomes a church, sounds good to me.

The right question here is what sort of symbol looks the best? The cross is reasonably tacky and overdone, and I'm not a huge fan of any Muslim symbols I've seen (plus they'll probably get you killed by ignorant rednecks). The Star of David has a certain simplicity, but I think a Buddhist Yin/Yang would probably be the most aesthetically pleasing.

Plus it'll only take two buckets of paint. Buddhist temple, here I come!

[Huh-What?]

All the locals should visit on a Sunday. Eat his bread and have a glass or two of his wine. He may get fed up after a while.
The real scandal is that anyone gets a tax break for being a church.

I think paying 80k a year to keep the fundies out of my home is a bargain.

[linusrichard]

Hell, why not? If all I have to do is place a large decoration on my property and it becomes a church, sounds good to me.

The right question here is what sort of symbol looks the best? The cross is reasonably tacky and overdone, and I'm not a huge fan of any Muslim symbols I've seen (plus they'll probably get you killed by ignorant rednecks). The Star of David has a certain simplicity, but I think a Buddhist Yin/Yang would probably be the most aesthetically pleasing.

Plus it'll only take two buckets of paint. Buddhist temple, here I come!

Yin Yang is more Taoist than Buddhist. That is to say, it's Taoist and not Buddhist. Also Onmyodo, which is cool, but not so much a religion.

If you want a Buddhist temple, you'll be better off with big old swastikas (http://images.google.com/images?rls=en&q=temple%20swastika). That cross is looking better and better, eh?

[XBoxWarrior]

I only pay $430 a year here in CO.........I couldn't even build a cool cross, with lights and such, for that much.

But $80,000? Hell yeah, church it is...I'd worship the god of $80,000.....there has to be at least one.

Churches should pay their way, nuff said.

[skepticalbeliever]

I'm a Catholic so I couldn't get away with this unless I set up a non denominational church.

[GreyICE]

Yin Yang is more Taoist than Buddhist. That is to say, it's Taoist and not Buddhist. Also Onmyodo, which is cool, but not so much a religion.

If you want a Buddhist temple, you'll be better off with big old swastikas (http://images.google.com/images?rls=en&q=temple%20swastika). That cross is looking better and better, eh?
Damn it, do I have to read up on religions to become a temple? Nonsense! If the Southern Baptists taught me anything, it's that reading up on your religion is absolutely secondary to having big temples. And loudspeakers, but I'm going to avoid the 'berate everybody with the WORD OF GOD' thing.

I think I will start a temple to the new offshoot of Buddhism, Tao-Buddhism. It's definition is that it uses the Yin-Yang as a religious symbol to denote temples.

Anything to avoid the big cross on the front lawn. In terms of offensive, that really is right up there with the Swastika.

[Abooga]

The real scandal is that anyone gets a tax break for being a church.

Indeed. But what I don´t understand is why don´t more people use this method as a way of protesting, and force the situation to revoke the tax exemption measure for churches.

If you keep creating bogus churches (which would be undistinguishable form the "real" ones) something would have to change...

[skepticalbeliever]

I think that if Scientology is able to get tax exemptions for all of their huge buildings, than there isn’t any harm with normal families declaring their homes churches in order to avoid taxes. As long as I pray with people in my house, it qualifies as a Church. I see no legal difference between praying at home and praying in St. Patrick’s.

Why should I have to pay more in taxes if I’m living in a bad part of Hollywood so Scientology can have a huge celebrity center? That is more outrageous than the man declaring his 3m dollar home to be a church.

[RobRoy]

I think I will start a temple to the new offshoot of Buddhism, Tao-Buddhism. It's definition is that it uses the Yin-Yang as a religious symbol to denote temples.

Anything to avoid the big cross on the front lawn. In terms of offensive, that really is right up there with the Swastika.

You could always use the lotus-Buddha outline. Or the Wheel of Time.

http://clf.uua.org/betweensundays/images/Wheel.gif