'The Power to Tax ...' San Francisco style

File it under "The Power to Tax is the Power to Destroy" Department:

San Francisco will try to collect up to $15 million in taxes from the Archdiocese of San Francisco, which is refusing to pay certain taxes on properties the church is transferring from one Catholic nonprofit organization to another.

That tax bill would be the second largest of its kind in San Francisco history. But the archdiocese has appealed the charge, saying the church should be exempt from property transfer taxes for a variety of reasons - primarily because the properties are being moved among groups that all are a part of the same overarching organization: the Archdiocese of San Francisco.

The written appeal, which will be heard before a review board in the coming weeks, suggests that the assessor's office is unfairly targeting the archdiocese by applying taxes to property transfers that have been tax-free for other religious nonprofit groups.

The Examiner approaches the report from the point of view that a cash-strapped city government is looking for a solution to its budget crisis.

The city faces a budget crisis that is in no small part related to a crippling fall in property transfer taxes due to the real estate downturn. The city took in $144 milion in property transfer taxes in 2006-07 but only $86.2 million in 2007-08.

The archdiocese is not being taxed to make up for a budget deficit, Ting said.

I think it's more likely that the denizens of San Francisco's City Hall have decided that it is going to punish the Church for various perceived "sins" against the prevailing civil religion of licentiousness and political correctness. The ownership of the properties is not actually changing, just the name of the subsidiary units underneath the umbrella of the Archdiocese. No monies are being generated for the Church.

The voices for taxing church properties (and income) are becoming louder in this country as progressives flex their muscle. It is but one front on a renewed assault against the freedom to worship and practice our faith. Mark my words, there will be new demands for additional taxes, regulations, restrictions on speech including what is said at the pulpit and in religious classrooms, and on religious schools. There will be attempted infringements against the Church based on political correctness and global warming/climate change.

All need to be resisted. If any part of the First Amendment is stripped away, it can all be stripped away.