Suit Challenges Property Tax Treatment of Churches vs. Non-Profits

A lawsuit filed in state court in Maine this week challenges the treatment under the state's property tax law of houses of worship as opposed to other charitable and benevolent non-profits.  At issue, according to a release from Alliance Defense Fund, is a decision by the city of Rockland to grant a local church a tax exemption only for its building and not for the parsonage it owns or for its parking lot. Apparently the parsonage is now being used for the pastor of a different church.  All property of non-profits formed for charitable and benevolent purposes is tax exempt. Houses of worship get exemptions only for their main building, certain personal property and for the parsonage for their cleric up to $20,000. (36 MRSA Sec. 652). The complaint (full text) in Aldersgate United Methodist Church v. City of Rockland, Maine, (ME Super. Ct., filed 4/23/2012), claims that the church should have been granted an exemption as a charitable and benevolent institution, given its services to the community.  The suit alleges that treating the church differently violates the equal protection clause and the free exercise and establishment clauses of the U.S. Constitution. [Thanks to Rick Duncan via Religionlaw for the lead.]