LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - Churches and religious groups in Nebraska would lose their property-tax exemptions under a bill introduced by state Sen. Ernie Chambers.
Chambers, of Omaha, presented the Legislature’s Revenue Committee on Friday with a measure that would require religious organizations to pay property taxes. State law currently exempts properties owned by educational, charitable, religious or cemetery organizations.
“I believe everybody should pay their fair share, including religious operations,” Chambers said.
Chambers, an atheist, cited a Bible verse, “Render therefore unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.”
In other words, pay your taxes, Chambers said.
The purpose of the bill is to help the state gain revenue by paying less aid to local governments, Chambers said.
“Whenever people are part of society they should be good citizens,” he said. “They should carry their weight,” Chambers said.
Sen. Beau McCoy of Omaha asked Chambers if educational institutions and charitable organizations fulfill a public purpose.
Chambers said that educational organizations are interested in meeting the needs of the students and charitable groups don’t exist to benefit themselves exclusively. But religious organizations benefit themselves exclusively, he said.
Jim Cunningham, executive director of the Nebraska Catholic Council, testified against the bill. Churches are not just associations of spirituality, he said. They are sources of ministry and mission in the community. Charitable works encouraged by churches benefit the community, he said.
Many older churches and those in low-income communities would be burdened by paying the property tax, Cunningham said.
The bill would “terminate a constitutionally authorized public policy that has been sound and effective for many decades,” Cunningham said.
Yesterday’s errors should not be today’s orthodoxies, Chambers said.
Justin Evertson, representing the Secular Coalition for Nebraska, testified in support of the bill, even though he doesn’t think there is a good chance the bill will pass. It is a good time to have this debate and discussion, he said.
Chambers famously sued in God in 2007 to make the point that anybody can file a lawsuit against anybody. The measure is unlikely to advance out of the committee, which took no immediate action on the bill Friday. But Chambers says he may attach it as an amendment to other bills he opposes.
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The bill is LB675.
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