Local News in Brief : Church Tax Status Issue
Los Angeles County Assessor John J. Lynch has stopped pursuing plans to take away the tax-exempt status of churches that provide shelter to undocumented refugees, a spokesman said Wednesday.
“We feel we’ve spent enough time and energy on this,” said the assessor’s spokesman, Robert Knowles. “At this time, without advice from the State (Equalization) Board or the attorney general, we don’t want churches to be concerned that we are looking over their shoulder.”
In February, Lynch said he believed that the “non-religious” use of church property to house illegal aliens violated federal revenue and tax codes that relieve churches of property tax obligations. After a staff lawyer for the State Board of Equalization issued an opinion that appeared to support Lynch’s interpretation, board members warned the assessor not to take any action against the churches.
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