Section 11 Churches

• Library: Tax Law 2009

In Missouri Church of Scientology v. State Tax Commission
of Missouri, 560 S.W.2d 837 (Mo. banc 1977), the taxpayer claimed that its headquarters building in the City of St. Louis was exempt from 1974 property taxes under § 137.100, RSMo 1969 (now RSMo Supp. 2007), because its property was “used exclusively for religious worship.” The Supreme Court affirmed the State Tax Commission’s denial of exemption and the Commission’s finding that the taxpayer “appears to be more an applied philosophy which has a certain religious connotation, but which falls short of being devoted to
the worship of a Supreme Being.” Mo. Church of Scientology, 560 S.W.2d at 845. The Court concluded that “the constitutional and statutory term religious worship of Art. X, § 6 and § 137.100 embody as a minimum requirement a belief in the Supreme Being.” Id. at 842.

The exempt status of six houses used as residences for certain executives of the Pentecostal Church of God was the subject of Pentecostal Church of God of America v. Hughlett, 601 S.W.2d 666 (Mo. App. S.D. 1980). The church did not charge rent and did not hold the residences for investment or profit. All the residents were ordained ministers and were elected to their executive positions by a general convention of the church’s members. The church argued that “the use of the homes is both for religious and charitable purposes, the persons who occupy the houses are in those properties to...