C Street House No Longer Tax Exempt!

[Bravo Zulu]

Residents of the C Street Christian fellowship house will no longer benefit from a loophole that had allowed the house's owners to avoid paying property taxes.

Previously, the house -- despite being home to numerous lawmakers -- had been tax exempt, because it was classified as a church. That arrangement had allowed the building's owner, the secretive international Christian organization The Family, to charge significantly below market rents to its residents. In recent year, Senators John Ensign (R-NV), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Jim DeMint (R-SC), and Reps. Zach Wamp (R-TN), Bart Stupak (D-MI) and Mike Doyle (D-PA) have all reportedly called C Street home

read more.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/c_street_house_no_longer_tax_exempt.php?ref=fpa

[madmax]

1. Paint a scarlet letter on the door! n/t

[thereismore]

2. We know Bart Stupak by now. Watch out for this Mike Doyle (D-PA). nt

[Sinti]

3. This is a nice step

The stairway is a long one, but every step counts, IMO. Partially revoked, so 66% percent is taxed, 44% to go.

[redqueen]

4. That's good news. (nt)

[Cleita]

5. I heard that the residents moved somewhere else so, they probably

have another tax exempt church-like place they are holed up in now.

[glinda]

7. Kinda like cockroaches when you turn on the lights, eh?

[Kceres]

6. About time! n/t

[Hawkeye-X]

8. 70 years back taxes

Due in the billions. Pay up now, or lose it, buddy!

[Cha]

9. A big H needs to be painted on the front of the house.

"According to online records, the total taxable assessment is $1,834,500. The building's owner last month paid taxes of $1714.70 on the property.

A commenter using the name Vince Treacy, posting on a blog run by George Washington Law professor Jonathan Turley, noted in June that the property enjoyed tax exempt status. In a comment yesterday, he wrote:

Well, at least one complaint just happened to be filed a few months ago, by some anonymous citizen who will remain nameless ""wink, wink," with the taxpayer hotline at the DC tax office.

The C Street house has lately been the subject of unwanted attention thanks to its role in three GOP sex scandals. Ensign, who reportedly recently moved out of the house, was confronted there last year by his fellow C Streeters, including Coburn, about his affair with a top aide's wife. South Carolina governor Mark Sanford revealed this summer that he had received counseling from the house's denizens over his own randy hijinx with his Argentinean mistress. And the wife of former GOP congressman Chip Pickering has alleged in divorce proceedings that the house was the site of "wrongful conduct" between her husband and his girlfriend."

[slay]

10. According to the article they are still 40% tax exempt

:shrug: Better than nothing I suppose. We should end tax exemptions on all religious buildings, groups, etc IMO.