"One of the ways that Scientology tries to sway locals (and it appears to be working, judging by our conversation with one local business owner, Leif Oskarsson), is by claiming that, against all visual evidence to the contrary, the church is actually a boon to the local economy and the tax-exempt organization still somehow pays more property taxes than anyone.
Well, we’re not so sure about that. We had a look at the city of Clearwater’s latest financial report, for the year 2014-2015, and it lists the top ten property tax payers in town. Here they are:"
There is a large percentage of Scientology property that is tax exempt for religious reasons. Also, Scientology has its own hotels, restaurants, and things to occupy it's "parishioners." There is little reason for Scientologists visiting Clearwater to ever step into a non-Scientologist business.
No comments:
Post a Comment