Canadian Tax Trial Analyzes Structure of FLDS Community

Canada's Income Tax Act, Sec. 143, sets out special tax rules for communal religious organizations.  Businesses they conduct that support the members of a religious congregation are treated as if earned by a trust whose beneficiaries are the members of the congregation.  As reported yesterday by Canadian Press, in Vancouver, British Columbia, a trial is under way to determine whether this provision applies to the polygamous FLDS community of Bountiful, B.C. under the leadership of Winston Blackmore.  Blackmore claims that Bountiful split from the U.S. based FLDS church in 2002 and that its residents make up a separate religious congregation so that income from businesses in the community should be spread for tax purposes over all the residents.  Canadian tax officials, on the other hand, say that Blackmore is merely the patriarch of a large polygamous family, and they recomputed Blackmore's tax filings for several years to add $1.5 million to Blackmore's income. They say that Sec. 143 was designed only for closed communes such as Hutterite colonies. The trial is expected to produce testimony on details of Bountiful's structure and organization, and the beliefs of its residents.