Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1894-06-12
TUESDAY. .........".JUNE IL. lo3f'
Taxing Churches.

The people OF Virginia are 10 nave
constitutional convention within year
Or two. and their representatives IN thd'
body will be sure 10 be called upon 10
decide whether in framing new Consul
tuition they shall or shall not au'hoi'~e
the exemption of churches from taxa'ion'
II is not by any means new question:
hut has been discussed certainly III ior'y
out Of the forty-four States composing
,h,s Union. and been decided negatively
I'm all forty OF them. We gave not iohs
ago the figures. Wherever ana whenever
that same question is discussed II VIII
he decided hereafter as 1t has been ue
cided heretofore. There Is no more reaSon
for taxing churches than for taxing
court houses. city halls, lunatic asyiums'
or warehouses. The government has no
rlyht TO levy tax upon any such oui'u-
in., because no such building mas any
selling value so long az 1t continues 10 NC
used for the purposes for which 1t was
carved out of.the taxable property Oh inc
Commonwealth and devoted to chdri'aoie
or DeneGcent purposes.
put IN The Stanton indicator thiS
subject does not present itsen III 'h'
light in which IT appears to us lha'
nopcr quotes from the Dispatch as fol-
lows:
"Our contention Is that churches should
not be taxed. Why not? Because uhcy
have no selling value so long as 'h'S 81.
,hurcbes We re-eat that this CANNOT
ON ~
mai il is a mere refusal 20 levy taxes
mon proporty which yields not one cent
to it's owners.
And then our stanton contemporary
comments as follows:
1--WE are not sure that We clearly ap-
prchend the position OF the Dlspa''h. II
cannot mean exactly what appears Oh
the face OF its contention, for the cas-
of the First Presbyterian church, "heIc
Kichmold's city Hall now stands would
II seems 10 as. upset it's position In 'n'S
case. while IT was still church ana
while its ,Ongrcgat on occupled II az
such. its selling value was determined
bv negotiation between the city and the
church trustees and the city paid II.
The moment the land occupied by that
church was restored to the list of taXabie
property t resumed its selling Nalue'
But spnpose that whilst It was stu
church II had been offered for sale upon
condition that il was TO continue TO be
used as a church, what in that case
would have been its selling value VINO
would nave bought 1t with such an IN
cumbrance upon It? And IT, in addition
TO the obligation TO keep the church up
IT had been stipulated that It's owners
were to pay taxes upon II. that church
would have deemed itself poor indeed
IL was because In buying the church the
city bought the right To tear III DOWN
and substitute for II new city Hall
that The lot acquired a selling value.
That same lot OF land Is now covered by
that new CITY Hall. What would any
body give for that lot upon condition
that 1t was - continue to be occupied by
a city hail? not one dime.
The late John G. Rves. of Washington
city. once lent to a congregation or church
in BROOKLYN a large sum of money.
taking trust decd upon the church ouiid-
inc. when the congregation failed 10
nav the debt and Mr. Rives himself bought
the building. he found himself, as he him
self said. in the possession OF d whl'e
elenhant. He could not afford TO own IL
any more than the owner OF the WHITE
elephant could afford to feed H. inc
elephant might have been valuable TO
Rarnrm. but was an intolerab'e burtheh
unon a man who could find no possible
use for II. SO church may he spiehdid
building. vet by no means TT subject
or object of taxation, being an intoleraple
burthen upon the shoulders Of its owners.
The Vindicator says that General Grant
held that by the year 1900 the church
nroperty I'm this country would be worth
three thousand millions of dollars but
General Grant was not an authority upon
such questions. His estimate was based on
the false assumption that church cost
ing 900 would sell for $4,000, whereas
as we have attempted TO show. such
church would have no selling or taxahle
yaIue at all, so long as its owners were
under obligations 20 use it as church'
The common sense of the people mas
enabled them to see that churches are
not proper objects OF taxation.