1. Since churches are a special category of the not-for-profit, tax-exempt law, they do not have to submit annual reports or justifications for real property tax-exemption status. S478 would burden churches with annual reporting to justify their tax-exempt status.

2. S478 would require churches to prove their tax-exempt status “by clear and convincing evidence”. The bill does not define clear and convincing evidence. Some have stated that the church would have to prove that they are in compliance with the documents submitted for their tax-exempt determination from the IRS. Churches do not have to get a tax-exempt determination from the IRS; they are automatically tax-exempt by the IRS because they are a church. Since there is no such documentation, a church could not submit compliance information.

3. Since churches are open to the public, and a tax assessor could stop by, unannounced, and observe that the church is indeed in operation, there is no need for S478.