Thursday, May 17, 2007
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Pastor Buys $4.0mm House, AVOIDING Taxes
What a bunch of BS. Everyone else in this world pays taxes, tax these people too.
| NORTHVILLE TOWNSHIP -- A Redford Township church that believes wealth is God's reward is raising eyebrows for buying its pastor a $3.65 million mansion and taking it off the tax rolls. This month, township officials grudgingly conceded they had no choice but to remove the 11,000-square-foot home overlooking Maybury State Park from its assessment rolls, losing $40,000 annually in taxes. They concluded the plush pad is a parsonage, but that hasn't quelled debate among township officials and neighbors about whether Christian charity extends to the Detroit World Outreach Church's purchase in September of the home for Pastor Ben Gibert and his wife and co-pastor, Charisse Gibert. "I also have faith in God, but I don't expect to live in such opulence," said Evgenia Asimakis, a single mother of two who lives nearby and has trouble paying her property taxes. Her neighbor, Gary Wall, is blunter: "You don't need a multimillion-dollar place to see God. He'll take a lot less." Detroit World Outreach Church isn't apologizing. In fact, members say the mansion is proof God has blessed them. |
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