Pennsylvania County Plans To Tax Closed Church Builidings

Today's Wilkes-Barre (PA) Times-Leader reports that Luzerne (PA) County officials are likely to follow the lead of several other Pennsylvania counties and remove the property tax exemption from closed churches and religious schools. Pennsylvania's tax code allows exemptions only for "actual places of regularly stated religious worship." (72 P.S. § 5453.202 [LEXIS link]). The new policy will primarily impact the Catholic Diocese of Scranton which is closing 45 churches plus some schools in the county. The move will likely lead to disagreements over the value of the closed buildings. After Northampton and Carbon counties took similar steps, the Diocese of Allentown filed suit claiming that the buildings remain exempt under a provision exempting owned by institutions of public charity.