As some are aware, I lament the fact that the media has yet to really investigate and provide an informed public presentation of all that is involved in the legal use and abuse of the ministerial tax advantages.
Where is Professor Chemerinsky on this?
![Surprised :o](./images/smilies/icon_surprised.gif)
The real story behind Revenue Ruling 70-549 has yet to be told!
I would also propose that the local Detroit story doesn't touch the "tip of the iceberg" as to the extent tax revenues are lost because of this gimmick.
Sincerely,
Maury enthusiast!
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http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar ... 0416&imw=Y
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Doug Guthrie / The Detroit News
(excerpts)
Detroit World Outreach Church considers its purchase of this mansion proof of God's blessing.
No taxes on $4M parsonage
Northville Township loses $40,000 annually after church buys home.
NORTHVILLE TOWNSHIP -- A Redford Township church that believes wealth is God's reward is raising eyebrows for buying its pastor a $3.65 million mansion and taking it off the tax rolls.
This month, township officials grudgingly conceded they had no choice but to remove the 11,000-square-foot home overlooking Maybury State Park from its assessment rolls, losing $40,000 annually in taxes.
They concluded the plush pad is a parsonage, but that hasn't quelled debate among township officials and neighbors about whether Christian charity extends to the Detroit World Outreach Church's purchase in September of the home for Pastor Ben Gibert and his wife and co-pastor, Charisse Gibert.
Detroit World Outreach Church isn't apologizing. In fact, members say the mansion is proof God has blessed them.
Ben Gibert said God surrounds the faithful with beautiful things.
Born in the 1950s, prosperity theology has a strong following among some fundamentalist and nondenominational churches. It's gained popularity among mega-church ministries of such well-known national pastors as Joel Osteen, T.D. Jakes and Pat Robertson.
Even so, most Christian denominations disparage the belief as consumerism run amok, said David G. Myers, professor of psychology at Hope College in Holland who has written about the movement.
Wilder said the four-bedroom mansion "isn't flamboyant" and is compensation for Ben Gibert leaving his job as a high-paying automotive executive with DaimlerChrysler's minivan division after the sudden death in 2005 of church founder Bishop Jack Cameron Wallace.
The mansion sits on 12 acres and behind a quarter-mile-long driveway and a tall, electronically controlled gate. That's necessary because the church has spoken out against homosexuality and Islamic violence, Wilder said Wallace once had a live bullet delivered in the offering plate, Wilder said.
Gibert, who left a 7,000-square-foot home in Franklin for the mansion, agreed security is a concern.
Thelma Kubitskey, the township's finance director, said officials weren't thrilled, but had to remove the house from the tax rolls. Tax-free status can be granted to church-owned residences if clergy live there, even if they're not in the same communities as the churches.
Township Clerk Sue Hillebrand complained that Northville schools can ill afford to lose more revenue. She said she's amazed by the church's generosity.
You can reach Doug Guthrie at (734) 462-2674 or dguthrie@detnews.com.
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