Once upon a time it seemed like a brilliant idea to the city fathers and mothers in Stafford, Texas, a town just next to Sugar Land. Let's not levy any property tax. We'll depend on sales taxes and business fees for our municipal revenues. Businesses will flock to our town and it will reap the benefits!
It worked great for awhile. In came Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, automobile dealerships and a big "power center". Not to mention a strip of restaurants lining the highway that runs through Stafford.
But then...the churches started coming. And coming. And coming. Now there are 51 churches in an area of about 7 square miles. The Mayor is alarmed. "Our city has an excessive number of churches" Who will pay for the municipal services? Churches don't pay property tax and they don't generate sales for sales taxes and you can't make them pay business fees. Can the city prevent more property within the city limits being acquired by churches? There are some constitutional problems with that. And what Texas politician wants to seem anti-church?
A classic case of being too clever by half...or hoisted by your own petard!
in fact this raises more questions regarding community focus etc, are these churches expecting folk to travel in- for surely there are too many churches to serve the current population... and what is the vision of these churches, are they simply taking advantage of a tax break and if so what kind of message does this send?
ReplyDeleteLots of questions!!!
Most people who attend these churches don't live in Stafford, because Stafford doesn't have many residences or apartments compared to the number of businesses it has attracted with its tax policy. Stafford has a very small area and is totally surrounded by the cities of Houston, Missouri City and Sugar Land which have large residential populations, so travel time isn't a big issue.
ReplyDeleteThey aren't taking advantage of the tax break. Churches don't pay taxes in any US town, not just this one.
ReplyDeleteWOW! That is a LOT of churches. My mother comes from a town of 3,000 and they have 18 churches. Let's see if I can still count them.
Presbyterian
Disc. Of Christ
Foursquare
Assembly of God
Church of God
Lutheran
Catholic
Methodist
Ind. Pentecostal
Church of Christ
East Side Baptist
Cornerstone Baptist
Missionary Baptist
Holiness Church of God
and the remaining 4 are Baptis churches whose names I can't recall.
I remember once asking (as a teenager) why the Baptists didn't combine so they could actually fill up First Baptist's large building. And why did the black people have to have their own Baptist Church and their own Pentecostal Church? Why didn't the Church of God, the Assemblies of God and the Foursquare Church (beliefs totally in harmony) not share resources? And why couldn't the Baptist youth groups combine and have a really great youth group?
No answer, so they all struggle along. :-(
I hope that thse numerous churches are at least drawing people from the larger areas...but geeze louise...something wrong here!
You are right, the churches aren't attracted by the tax break. But the tax break for business and industry has squeezed out residential housing so that more land in Stafford became available for non-residential use and it's less expensive than in the surrounding communities. So the tax break indirectly influences them.
ReplyDeleteYou know I read this article, and did not know how to post about it or what to say. You have done a fine job. Yep, it sure did backfire on them.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why exactly, but this whole situation strikes me as uproariously funny.
ReplyDeleteThis is interesting. How much longer will churches maintain their tax-free status? A few years ago I would have told you they should all stay tax-free, but now... It seems if we are spending our money on McMansionville Church "Campuses" instead of somehow reinvesting it in our communites, then we ought to be taxed. Soaking up services and resources without taxation doesn't seem right.
ReplyDeleteLet's see, hmmm, SO's mother's town is 3000/18 = 166 people/church. My town is officially 620/6 = 103 people/church. We have Lutheran, Catholic, Baptist, Covenant, Congregational, and JW. Of course, more people live out of town than in town.
ReplyDelete