Archdiocese issues statement
The Archdiocese of San Francisco is contesting a plan by the San Francisco County Recorder’s Office to impose a property transfer tax on the Archdiocese based on an internal reorganization of Church property begun last year. Following is a press statement released Jan. 12 regarding the matter:
“San Francisco County Recorder Phil Ting has taken a step that is unprecedented in the history of the state of California. He has determined that an internal reorganization of Church property, without consideration, within the family of corporations of the Archdiocese of San Francisco,constitutes a ‘sale’ and is subject to a property transfer tax. The Archdiocese, therefore, has filed a formal appeal to contest this determination. As noted in the Dec. 7, 2007 issue of Catholic San Francisco, in which Archbishop George H. Niederauer outlined certain archdiocesan corporate structure changes, ‘The goal here in San Francisco has been to allow the day to day operations of our parishes and schools to continue in a cohesive, efficient manner while at the same time establishing simple ownership models that clearly distinguish the canonical assets of the parishes and schools from those of the Archdiocese in general.’”
The statement concluded: “The law is overwhelmingly in favor of the Archdiocese in holding that Church property ‘transfers’ of this nature are exempt from transfer taxes. The California legislature, courts, the State Board of Equalization and the Attorney General have repeatedly stated that religious corporations are merely permitted as a convenience to assist in the conduct of the temporalities of the Church – which is the real owner of Church property. Counties throughout the state have recognized this fact in connection with similar corporate reorganizations in other dioceses.”
