I can't wait for the "public hearing"... maybe we can add our 2 cents!
Ramapo denies Jehovah's Witnesses tax exemption
by lrkr 47 Replies latest jw friends
-
-
wha happened?
Well thier lack of contribution to society is obvious. If anything, they are a burden. I know in the spanish congregations in L.A., many are on government aid that pioneer.
-
recovering
i stand corrected NY has outragous tax rates
-
mraimondi
social work?
lol
they preach politics from the pulpit...
thats legal reason enough to get them taxed.
Catholics = jws
they are actually on the SAME legal ground, i stand corrected.
-
sammielee24
They should all be taxed. That way, money goes back into the community - there are any number of people who are dependent on the government for their living expense and many of those people in turn, contribute what they can of that money, back to the church. The church then uses that money to 'help' the community. It's a circle.
Tax all churches and then money from the contributions will go directly into the local community by way of property taxes. Whether or not they then choose to provide charity to the community becomes a moot point as the local governments and hospitals/schools etc already foot the bill for a lot of it by way of food programs or welfare. It it's God's will that a church will be charitable..then it will be - after taxes. sammieswife.
-
rebel8
Good!!!!!
We are at the damn epicenter of the world's financial crisis in NY. Communities are in dire straits. They cannot afford to pay more taxes to make up for what wts doesn't pay.
----------------
RAMAPO - A property-tax exemption has been denied for 248 acres owned by the Jehovah's Witnesses.
That does not mean an exemption will never be granted. The Watchtower Tract and Bible Society can appeal the decision, and can also seek a zoning change to permit the religious uses it plans for the property.
Until then, it will be responsible for municipal tax bills, Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence said.
He said that even if an exemption was granted, he expected the Watchtower Tract and Bible Society to make some payments to the town.
"I want to discuss with them directly what contributions they can make to the town in lieu of taxes," St. Lawrence said.
The property, off Sterling Mine Road near Sloatsburg, was subdivided for an active-senior development and was zoned as such.
"I denied the exemption because the property that the Watchtower purchased is 292 building lots, and the town approved building homes on those lots," assessor Scott Shedler said.
Watchtower bought the property in February for $11.5 million from Lorterdan Properties at Ramapo, which abandoned its plans for the residential development.
Lorterdan paid property taxes of about $400,000 last year, and Watchtower sought a 100 percent exemption on Feb. 27.
Shedler estimated that Watchtower would face town, county and school tax bills totaling about $350,000 for 2009-10.
The property is assessed at $1.5 million.
Richard Devine, a spokesman at Watchtower's headquarters in Brooklyn, said its officials had not been notified of Ramapo's decision.
"It was news to us," Devine said. "We haven't yet received word from the town on it, so we're not in a position to comment on it."
Shedler said he sent a letter Friday to the society about his decision.
Watchtower plans to move many of its administrative offices to Ramapo from Brooklyn, where it has overseen its worldwide operations for 100 years.
In place of the 292 building lots, Ramapo records show that Watchtower's plans include an office and worship building, a service building with a central kitchen, dining room, laundry, storage and infirmary.
Residential buildings for about 850 people, all 18 or older, would also be constructed.
No children are to live there.
Watchtower can appeal Shedler's decision with the town's Board of Assessment Review up to May 26.
Representatives of the society can either appear before the board on May 26 or file a written grievance.
The town annually averages 1,200 grievances of assessments.
Watchtower also needs to have the Town Board change the zoning to match the society's plans.
"They need to petition for a zoning law amendment to permit convents and monasteries," said Alan Berman, first deputy town attorney.
A designation for "convents and monasteries" refers to Watchtower's plans for "integrated living, working and worshiping arrangements," as outlined in its preliminary plans.
The property is now zoned RSH, or residential specialized housing.
Permitted uses include active-adult residential development, housing for people with disabilities, nursing homes and assisted-living facilities.
Because zoning changes are legislative actions, Watchtower needs to first petition the Town Board.
The matter would then be referred to the Planning Board for its recommendations, then returned to the Town Board for a public hearing and decision.
-
yknot
This is just part of the negotiation dance.....
I think the WTS will toss out a park, hike and bike trail or adopt a few roadways to keep clean .....some community salve.
How serious is the WTS about building? Could this purchase just be a reinvestment and not a serious venture?
-
purplesofa
http://www.jw-media.org/people/contribute.htm
Their contribution to community
Contributions to the Community
In addition to promoting Bible education in the community, Jehovah's Witnesses contribute to its welfare in other ways, some of which are described below.
Disaster Relief
Since World War II, Jehovah's Witnesses have organized relief efforts to help fellow members and others who suffer the effects of war, natural disasters, or other calamities. Their experience in organizing and managing large numbers of people at their Kingdom Hall building projects and annual conventions contributes to their success in this regard. Often they are the first relief agency to appear on the scene.
On May 2, 2008, Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar with devastating force. Almost 140,000 people were reported dead or missing after a massive storm surge engulfed the Irrawaddy Delta region.
In one area of Yangon, Myanmar, Jehovah's Witnesses helped many people find refuge in the Kingdom Halls during the cyclone. For example, at the Kingdom Hall in Dala, a Witness couple took in 20 distraught neighbors who had fled there for safety. In the morning, those families were hungry, but they had no homes to return to. The husband found someone selling rice and bought enough to feed all the people.
Initially, the cyclone left the branch office completely cut off because large trees had fallen and blocked the roads nearby. Just a few hours after the storm subsided, more than 30 members of the branch staff joined in clearing the trees by hand. As they worked, other local residents watched. Within a short time, a group of Witness women arrived with cold drinks and fresh fruit for the workers as well as for the neighbors, who could not believe what they were seeing. When a journalist observed the activity, he asked, "Who are these people who are working so efficiently?" After being told, he remarked, "I wish more people showed such true community spirit as Jehovah's Witnesses do!"
In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina, one of the costliest and deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States, slammed into the Gulf Coast with New Orleans absorbing the most severe loss of life and property damage. Thousands of Jehovah's Witnesses from around the country donated their time and construction skills to the massive rebuilding effort. "They came with tools, talent and a will to help. They left behind a trail of grateful, newfound friends . . . throughout the New Orleans area," stated an article in The Times Picayune . In a Gulf Coast village in Mississippi, a resident couple was grateful for the help of five Jehovah's Witnesses who showed up, chain saws in hand, to clear away fallen trees. "I can't thank these guys enough. They did it for free, unbelievable," said the wife as reported by the Tennessean.com . A sign that read, "Jehovah's Witnesses - Do Not Call," hung from the door of a local New Orleans resident. However, after she observed the warm, friendly spirit of the Witness volunteers as they restored damaged homes in her area she said, "It is obvious that I have misjudged you people." The sign came down and she invited the Witnesses for a visit.
In June 2001, Tropical Storm Allison dropped nearly three feet of water on the city of Houston, Texas, USA, in a single 24-hour period. Jehovah's Witnesses quickly organized relief efforts that included developing a database to track the work, locating warehouse and administrative facilities, purchasing materials and organizing thousands of volunteers from all over the country. Within days, teams were trained by professionals on how to tear out carpeting and walls, and how to clean and disinfect homes. "This is something we felt we needed to do. We knew they were in dire straits, so we came to help them out," said one volunteer who traveled nearly 500 miles on the weekends to assist. "While most of the victims are fellow Witnesses, the repair effort has spread to include some families and neighbors of church members hit by Houston's most costly natural disaster," stated an article in the Houston Chronicle .
On September 11, 2001, after the shocking attack on the World Trade Center buildings in New York City, thousands of people exited Manhattan by way of the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges. The international headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses is located on the Brooklyn side of those bridges. Many people were welcomed into the Witnesses' office and factory buildings, where hospitality was extended and basic first aid was rendered as needed. Additionally, equipment was supplied to the fire department for use in the rescue work taking place in the days following the attack. The greatest relief provided, however, was during the days, weeks and months that followed, in the form of comforting Bible texts that were shared with relief workers at what came to be called Ground Zero. Groups of ministers from local Manhattan congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses were allowed into the area to talk to and comfort the workers. "The men had tears in their eyes as we shared scriptures with them," the ministers related. "[They] were looking so lost, with their heads bowed, just not able to cope with what they had seen. We sat down with them and shared texts from the Bible. The men thanked us so much for coming, saying that they really needed this comfort." During the days after the tragedy, about 900,000 Jehovah's Witnesses in the United States made a determined effort nationwide in their ministry to offer comfort to those who were grieving.
Jesus said: "By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves." (John 13:35) And the disciple James emphasized that true faith is accompanied by good deeds. (James 2:14-17) Jehovah's Witnesses take those words to heart and endeavor to show such love by helping and supporting those in need. They donate needed materials and volunteer their services without pay. They do so in response to the Bible's commands to love their neighbor and to have intense love for one another.—Matthew 22:39; 1 Peter 4:8.
Literacy
For decades Jehovah's Witnesses have organized literacy programs throughout the world for people who have had little or no opportunity to receive formal schooling.
In Brazil, Sirley, a middle-aged teacher and one of Jehovah's Witnesses, made it a weekly practice to convert her living room into a classroom. At about 2 o'clock, Amélia, an 82-year-old student arrives. Already she is reading better than many youngsters in high school.
Amélia is following in the steps of the more than 60 senior citizens who have graduated from the free literacy classes that Sirley is conducting in her hometown. Sirley's volunteer work was featured in the Brazilian newspaper Jornal do Sudoeste . After noting that she has made "a huge contribution to community life," the newspaper article said that Sirley's method of teaching the elderly is so effective that "after just 120 hours of classes, they are writing letters, reading newspapers, and coping with numbers and other day-to-day tasks." Literacy classes conducted in hundreds of Kingdom Halls throughout Brazil have already helped more than 22,000 adults in that country to learn to read and write.
Similar programs of Jehovah's Witnesses have yielded success in other parts of the world. In the African country of Burundi, for example, the National Office for Adult Literacy (a department of the Ministry of Education) was so pleased with the results of the Witnesses' literacy program that it gave an award to four of the program's teachers for "the hard work put into teaching others to read." Government officials are especially impressed that 75 percent of those who learned to read and write were adult women—a group that usually shies away from attending such programs.
On November 17, 2000, the Association of Congolese and African Journalists for the Development (AJOCAD) in the Democratic Republic of Congo presented the Certificate of Excellence to Jehovah's Witnesses for "their contribution to the development of the Congolese individual [through] the education and the teaching contained in their publications." In commenting on the award, the Kinshasa newspaper Le Phare said: "It is difficult to find a Congolese in whose hands the Watchtower and Awake! magazines or other publications published by Jehovah's Witnesses have not passed." As noted by AJOCAD, the publications of Jehovah's Witnesses have proved beneficial to a large portion of the Congolese population.
Moral Values
Evidence shows that learning and following the Bible's counsel is a good way to combat many social ills and to become better equipped to deal with the problems and pressures of life. For example, as a result of Bible education, many people have been helped to overcome such physically damaging practices as smoking, overdrinking, misuse of drugs, gambling, and sexual promiscuity. Similarly, through Bible education, family members learn mutual respect and effective communication—factors that lower the rates of divorce and juvenile delinquency.
One schoolteacher from Brazil commented, "I would like to congratulate the editors of Awake! [published by Jehovah's Witnesses] Your cultural magazine is an important contribution to a rounded-out education. My fellow teachers and I use the excellent articles as a basis for classroom discussions on moral values and social issues. Awake! is character-forming and improves our students' quality of life by helping them to make informed decisions."
The German newspaper Lausitzer Rundschau reported: "Such moral terms as honesty, moderation, and love of neighbor are rated very highly in the faith of the Witnesses."
Racial and Ethnic Unity
Jehovah's Witnesses, who come from all racial and ethnic groups, believe the Bible's teaching that all races are equal in the sight of God. Through Bible education, they have been successful in helping many to overcome deep-seated prejudices.—Acts 17:26.
Even under extreme pressure, Jehovah's Witnesses will not support any movement motivated by racial or ethnic hatred. During the Nazi era, Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany and elsewhere refused to support Hitler's campaign of hatred. Thousands paid with their lives. Historian Christine King described the contest in this way: "One [the Nazis] was monstrous, powerful, and seemingly invincible. The other [the Witnesses] was quite tiny . . . had only faith as his weapon, and nothing more. . . . Morally, the Jehovah's Witnesses brought the mighty Gestapo to its knees."
Similarly, the Witnesses remained neutral during the 1994 massacre in Rwanda, even though some 400 of them perished as innocent victims of ethnic violence. The Reformed Press, a weekly magazine in Switzerland, published an article on December 8, 1998, stating, "In 1995, African Rights documented the genocide in Rwanda on twelve hundred pages. It could prove participation of all Churches with the exception of Jehovah's Witnesses." At the risk of their own lives, Jehovah's Witnesses sought to protect fellow Christians, no matter what their ethnic background.
Such unity is a feature commonly noticed during the annual conventions held by Jehovah's Witnesses around the world. A reporter from The Sun Herald made this observation while attending a convention in Mississippi, "They are all ages, from newborn to the elderly, and the ethnic mix shows an erasure of racial barriers."
Civil Liberties
Court cases involving Jehovah's Witnesses make up a significant portion of U.S. and Canadian law relating to freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press. These cases have done much to preserve the liberties not only of Jehovah's Witnesses but also of people in general. For example, the U.S. Supreme Court case Lovell v. City of Griffin (1938) protected freedom of the press from licensing and censorship. Jehovah's Witnesses have experienced 50 victories before the U.S. Supreme Court.
One recent study has described the unprecedented litigation by Jehovah's Witnesses that occurred between 1938 and 1946 in the United States resulting in 23 Supreme Court opinions as "turning points in the nation's commitment to individual rights."
In 1941, Supreme Court Justice Harlan F. Stone quipped in a letter to Chief Justice Hughes, "I think the Jehovah's Witnesses ought to have an endowment in view of the aid which they give in solving the legal problems of civil liberties."
Similarly, a 1942 law journal observed, "Seldom, if ever, in the past, has one individual or group been able to shape the course, over a period of time, of any phase of our vast body of constitutional law. But it can happen, and it has happened, here. The group is Jehovah's Witnesses. Through almost constant litigation this organization has made possible an ever-increasing list of precedents concerning the application of the Fourteenth Amendment to freedom of speech and worship."
First Amendment freedoms were again defended in Watchtower v. Stratton (2002) when the Supreme Court ruled, 8-1, that an ordinance requiring all door-to-door "canvassers" to get a permit from the mayor was unconstitutional, thus protecting the right of missionaries and others whose cause compels them to speak to their neighbors, without first obtaining permission from local authorities.
Today, Jehovah's Witnesses continue to defend freedom of religion and freedom of conscience in many countries around the world. As of March 2009, they have successfully appealed to the European Court of Human Rights 35 times.
-
Satanus
Purps
Occassionally, in extreme emergencies, the jws will do a bit of social support stuff. But, it's not wt policy. Were you aware or involved in any when you were a jw? I know, in my 30+ yrs as a jw we never did anything. Those few examples that you presented pale in comparison what the churches that REGULARLY, as a POLICY open their doors for groups to use their buildings for social recreation, or things like aa meetings, REGULARLY collecting food and distributing it too the needy, or even doing drug user interventions, just as a few examples. While jws may occassioanly do something or other, and blow their trumpets about it for decades, it's nothing compared to what churches do quietly, day in day out. This kind of thing is done by muslims in muslim countries, as well.
S
-
purplesofa
Satanus, I was never involved in anything to help the community while I was a JW, the only thing I remember was getting together items for a truckload of stuff that was leaving Arkansas to go to New Orleans after Katrina to help our brothers.
I just posted that to show that they do little to help the community that is not of their own.
In the community I live in, the churches do much to help people in need, that are not members of their church. Clothing, furniture, food, teenage pregnancy, helping unwed mothers, battered women, healthcare for those that cannot afford it, help with utility bills etc etc
When my ex-husbands house burned down losing everything, my teenage sons (4) lived there, the entire community, church at the forefront, different denominations~ collected enough things for them to set up house again.
I think the laws are set up that what the JW's do is probably enough for them to not pay taxes where they have bought this land to set up a new facility.
I will be surprised if they lost.
I must add that the congregation I was last in was very helpful to each other.