Dear Editor:
Re: Churches battle over right to divvy up property, Burnaby NOW, Jan. 10.
While I don’t really have a position on the specific dispute in this issue, I do have a concern.
Through their tax-exempt status, churches across Canada avoid taxation on their activities. That means as a taxpayer I actually have an interest in every church, synagogue, temple or mosque of every denomination in B.C.
Clearly, when these institutions choose to sell their land to take advantage of rising property values, my financial interest in their operations, an interest accumulated over decades, should be protected as well and the taxpayer should share in any benefit received.
Better still, stop forcing me to support someone else’s religious beliefs through my tax dollars. I am agnostic and don’t support any organized religious group, either morally or financially, outside my forced tax support. If I want to support charitable works by any group, I do so directly. In the 21st century, it is time governments stopped supporting religious beliefs.
Carl Dillon, Burnaby
