NH Supreme Court: No Tax Exemption For Church Used As Warehouse

In Appeal of City of Nashua, (NH Sup. Ct., May 11, 2007), the New Hampshire Supreme Court yesterday gave a narrow reading to the state statute that grants a property tax exemption for "buildings … owned, used and occupied directly for … religious purposes by any regularly recognized and constituted denomination…." It held that a tax exemption was not available for two Catholic church buildings that had been deconsecrated and which were being used to store items of religious significance such as altars, stained glass windows, a cross, organs, statues and pews. The court said that the mere storage of religious objects in a deconsecrated church, on a temporary basis, is not use of the building for "religious purposes." Yesterday’s Boston Globe reported on the decision.