Canadian Court Rejects Church's Tax Discrimination Claim

In Vancouver, a British Columbia judge has ruled against a Jehovah's Witnesses congregation that claimed it was being discriminated against when it was taxed on the property surrounding its church building. Wednesday's Globe and Mail reports that in 2003 municipalities in British Columbia were given new powers to tax property around a place of worship, while the church building itself remains exempt. The Jehovah's Witnesses congregation in Coquitlam is the only congregation, so far, to have to pay the new tax. The congregation that had been fully exempt from property taxes for 35 years had to build a new Kingdom Hall when some of its land was taken by the province to widen a road. Madam Justice Carol Ross ruled that the only burden created by the tax is indirect and not substantial. However, she sent the case back to the city for reconsideration because she ruled there was a lack of procedural fairness in the consideration of the Church's request for a tax exemption.