THE Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) has filed a suit on behalf of two churches against the Kansas City of Mission for implementing a property tax named ‘driveway fee’.
The churches – Baptist Church of Mission and the Archdiocese of Kansas City – have come together to fight the tax that is being seen as an attempt evade grant of tax exemptions to them.
The driveway tax that bills property owners based on the number of trips in and out of their driveways is similar to other fees supreme courts in Idaho and Florida have struck down. The local body has labeled the driveway tax as a ‘fee’ and is charging churches, non-profit organizations and charities that are ordinarily exempt from property taxes under state law. The local body has assessed the church property church property and parsonage of First Baptist Church nearly $1,000.
Castigating the attempt to tax the nonprofit organizations, ADF senior counsel Erik Stanley said: “Disguising a tax
as a fee is just another way to penalize churches and other nonprofit organizations and charities by subverting their tax exemptions so the government can collect more money. The driveway tax is simply outrageous. Will we soon be seeing a ‘sidewalk tax’ based on the number of people who walk to church?”
Not only is this scheme unlawful, it’s fiscally nonsensical, he added.
