  Kjwick Member Username: Kjwick Post Number: 53 Registered: 11-2003 |
Since the City owns so much of the property around town, does it pay property tax? If so, I wonder what Planning and Development's tax bill is. | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 10578 Registered: 10-2003 |
Silly question. The city owns most of the land from others abandoing it. I also do not believe that county/city gov't pay property taxes. Personally I think that counties should pay property taxes to the cities the courts, jails, offices reside in. Looking at the tri county area the county gov'ts all reside in older, poorer areas (Pontiac, Detroit, Mt. Clemens) | ||
Bvos Member Username: Bvos Post Number: 2234 Registered: 10-2003 |
Governments are exempt from paying taxes. Any property they own does not require the payment of taxes on. | ||
Danindc Member Username: Danindc Post Number: 3529 Registered: 10-2003 |
quote: That'd be wonderful. I wish the federal government would have to pay taxes to DC. Maybe then we'd be able to have a few more badly needed subway lines.... Dare to dream. | ||
Novine Member Username: Novine Post Number: 182 Registered: 07-2007 |
"Governments are exempt from paying taxes." This is mostly true. However, there are some exceptions and in some cases, the state pays what is called PILT (payment in lieu of taxes) to local governments for state-owned land. | ||
Focusonthed Member Username: Focusonthed Post Number: 1389 Registered: 02-2006 |
Another example is Evanston, IL. Since Northwestern University owns so much prime, lakefront land which the city is responsible for providing services to, but cannot tax...the taxes on the rest of the city are rather high to compensate. | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 10583 Registered: 10-2003 |
Tax churches and religious establishments. I think they should at a minimum pay for services such as police, fire and waste management. (Message edited by jt1 on October 24, 2007) | ||
Nainrouge Member Username: Nainrouge Post Number: 277 Registered: 05-2006 |
That's a great idea JT1 except for a little thing called the Constitution... | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 10586 Registered: 10-2003 |
Where does the constitution require free city services for churches? Police, Fire and waste disposal cost money. Why should my tax dollars go to free services for churches. I am fine exempting them on many things but these are servcies that require money. At a minimum let's charge on a per call/per reponse basis. | ||
Jfried Member Username: Jfried Post Number: 1078 Registered: 11-2003 |
jt1 - I think you're upsetting baby jesus. | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 10588 Registered: 10-2003 |
Now I'm going to have quotes from Talladega nights stuck in my head all day. | ||
Gumby Member Username: Gumby Post Number: 1620 Registered: 11-2003 |
I am with Jt1. If churches kept their nose out of politics then I would have no problem with them being exempt but lets face it they love to meddle. they shouldn't be allowed to have it both ways. | ||
Oldestuff Member Username: Oldestuff Post Number: 57 Registered: 01-2007 |
speaking of which, Drove down Mack from GP the other day, lost count of all the tax exempt churches, same could be said of Grand River or any other busy road in Detroit. I find it really hard to believe that all of these places have congregations. I say tax them or make it harder for tax exempt anyone to obtain vacant property. The City is so full of churches, I can't believe Baby Jesus could get mad at anyone in Detroit. | ||
Dabirch Member Username: Dabirch Post Number: 2445 Registered: 06-2004 |
quote: Do you know how quickly they'd relocate to Virginia if they had to pay DC taxes? | ||
Andylinn Member Username: Andylinn Post Number: 605 Registered: 04-2006 |
maybe they'd relocate to detroit, they could move congress etc... to the train station, move most offices to the broderick and whitney and move the white house into the GAR. sounds good to me... no, in all seriousness... it would be silly and a waste of money for the CITY to pay property taxes.. hmm... silly because: they'd have someone spend time + money maybe auditing themselves occasionally, PAYING taxes, and collecting taxes, but ALL of the money would go back into the budget... as it stands now, the money they save on taxes they presumably are supposed to spend on other things... now it might be an interesting idea to have state and county governments pay taxes, though... (to the cities, i mean) | ||
Novine Member Username: Novine Post Number: 185 Registered: 07-2007 |
I don't believe that churches get a free ride on water and sewer and related utilities, just property taxes. | ||
Lefty2 Member Username: Lefty2 Post Number: 476 Registered: 07-2007 |
i should turn my house into a church | ||
Detx Member Username: Detx Post Number: 39 Registered: 07-2007 |
The government enables religious establishments to be exempt from taxes as a means to encourage the vital programs they provide for their respective communities, i.e. community outreach, tutoring, spiritual guidance, youth centers, homeless shelters, free counseling, ESL classes, etc… These are all integral services that anyone can benefit from for free, rich or poor, black or white, and the tax structure should not be finagled with just to put a few more pennies in the already overstuffed pockets of our bureaucrats. These places also have to pay their own bills too. No ones tax dollars is contributed to the utility bill of a church, which in the case of most old Catholic churches, is several thousands of dollars a month. And as far as taxing a church on a “per call/per response” basis goes… that idea is absolutely ridiculous and sounds like its straight out of the Jenny Granholm play book. | ||
Lefty2 Member Username: Lefty2 Post Number: 503 Registered: 07-2007 |
lostsa tax dollars in the wings. | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 10594 Registered: 10-2003 |
quote: Why should my tax dollars support institutions that I do not believe in. Additionally considering the corruption and lack of involvement in the community of so many churches it is a stretch to claim about how much they do. The city has a lot of churches that line pockets of their clergy and don't do a damn thing. Further coomplicating it is where the outreach programs operate. If they are not operating to better the community directly in the vicinity (which many, many do not) they should not be subsidized through my tax dollars. You can believe the nobility, honor and devotion to the immediate community of the church stuff but reality is singing a different tune in many cases. Many are great. Many are just thieves. | ||
Detx Member Username: Detx Post Number: 41 Registered: 07-2007 |
“Why should my tax dollars support institutions that I do not believe in.” This is a good question that most Americans find themselves asking. I wish I knew the answer, as there are lots of institutions I don’t believe in that I’m paying for. For example, the war in Iraq or Planned Parenthood. However, that’s just how it is. If you don’t like it, you can write your congressional representative or pay them a visit in Washington. I don’t think that would get you very far though. Furthermore, the problem with this is that the institutions you support or not the same ones I will support, and vice versa. The bottom line is which non-profit organizations are promoting good and the general well being of the public and which ones are taking advantage of tax exemptions? You hinted at that in your corruption comment. This, of course, leads to the larger debate of what is good and what is not good. I encourage to explore this idea and visit a local church and observe some of the ministry they provide. You’ll be surprised by the difference they make in their local communities, all receiving no net income. And when I refer to churches I generally mean Catholic churches, as I’m most familiar with how they function as non-profit organizations. | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 10597 Registered: 10-2003 |
You make some very fair points about tax exempt status across different organizations. Maybe there should be more oversight to the organizations and churches to ensure they are deserving of tax exempt status. I just have concers about some of the places that make the preachers disgustingly wealthy and offer nothing in return obtaining tax exempt status. For those that contribute it makes sense. | ||
Jtw Member Username: Jtw Post Number: 181 Registered: 06-2005 |
Jt1 - again to refer to the Catholic churches that Detx mentioned, i don't believe that any priests (as differentiated from 'preacher') are monetarily wealthy at all: http://www.jknirp.com/money.ht m I can't speak for income for priests/pastors/preachers of other denominations (nor for non-Christian religious leaders) as i'm really only familiar with the Catholic church. | ||
Bvos Member Username: Bvos Post Number: 2236 Registered: 10-2003 |
Novine, You said "the state pays what is called PILT (payment in lieu of taxes) to local governments for state-owned land." While this is true on paper, the State of Michigan (rather Michigan Legislators) has never fully, nor come anywhere close to the term fully, funded their PILOT obligations to any Michigan municipality for any state owned buildings. Talk to any municipality with a significant percentage of their acreage covered with state facilities (prison, university, etc.) and you'll likely find a municipality in poor financial condition. | ||
Novine Member Username: Novine Post Number: 193 Registered: 07-2007 |
Very true. I was going to mention that but figured that was more detail than most people cared to know. Places like Ann Arbor and East Lansing have long complained about this impact although there's undoubtedly a positive impact as well. | ||
Lefty2 Member Username: Lefty2 Post Number: 516 Registered: 07-2007 |
no |
