“Edición interior” recently investigated the topic of tax-exempt parsonages. The news report featured drone footage and pictures of some of America’s largest church-owned mansions.
Investigative reporter Lisa Guerrero attempted to interview televangelist Jesse Duplantis regarding his residence, but he refused to answer questions.
Associate Pastor and Political Scientist Ryan Burge told Inside Edition, “If you have a multi-million-dollar house, your property tax bill could be thirty, forty, fifty thousand dollars a year. But if it’s classified as a parsonage, now you don’t have to pay property taxes on that home. That $50,000 could pay the salary of an elementary school teacher in your local public school.”
The property-tax exemption on church and ministry-owned homes is governed by state laws. It differs from the parsonage housing allowance which was created by Congress and involves a tax exemption from the federal income tax.
In 2021, a Houston Chronicle investigation identified 28 parsonages in Texas worth more than $1 million.
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Tax Savings for America’s Largest Parsonages
David E Taylor
By purchasing a mansion through his church, televangelist David E. Taylor saves over $150,000 in annual property taxes.
In April of 2022, The Kingdom of God Global Church purchased a parsonage for Taylor at a cost of $8.3 million.
Before Taylor’s church purchased the mansion, the Hillsborough County Florida property tax on the property was $155,715.20—but after the purchase the property tax dropped to just $1,404.11.
According to Hillsborough County’s tax assessor website, the miniscule 2023 tax on the property has still not been paid.
Ron Carpenter
California might be the most common location for million-dollar parsonages due to the state’s inflated real estate prices.
California’s guide to the state property tax exemptions for religious organizations says parsonages are exempt when: “The primary residence of clergy (for example, pastor, minister, rabbi, imam, or priest) when the use of the property is incidental to and reasonably necessary to accomplish the nonprofit religious organization’s exempt purpose.”
Is a $7 million parsonage “reasonably necessary”?
Inside Edition’s investigative report includes brief video of televangelist Ron Carpenter’s Fremont, California-parsonage that is currently on sale for $7,250,000.
In 2018, Ronald W Carpenter Jr Ministries purchased the 14,042 square foot mansion with an 800-bottle wine closet. Alameda County reports the parsonage was appraised at $7,505,330. Before the ministry received the property tax exemption, the ministry paid $83,521.52 in property taxes. The tax bill dropped to $716.70 for 2022-2023.
In 2022, the ministry purchased a second home 14 miles away, which is not tax exempt, for almost $6 million.
Carpenter’s Jubilee Christian Center of San Jose also owns a parsonage in South Carolina worth $1.3 million. The prior property owner paid $12,234.93 in property taxes in 2013. In comparison, the church owed only $79.33 in property taxes for 2023.
Kenneth Copeland
The famous word-faith preacher Kenneth Copeland lives in a parsonage located on prime lakefront real estate north of Fort Worth. The mansion is 18,279 square feet. When compared to other luxury homes in Tarrant County, the parsonage appears to be appraised below market value.
After Tarrant County appraised the parsonage property at $10,825,462 in 2020, Copeland’s church challenged the appraisal even though the property was tax exempt.
The following year Tarrant County dropped its appraisal valuation by almost $5 million. The property-tax exempt parsonage was appraised at $6,016,739 in 2023.
Tarrant County property tax calculator estimates the property tax would be $106,801.34 based on the 2023 appraisal and $192,159.52 on the 2020 appraisal.
The Texas tax code restricts parsonages to one acre of land. Therefore, the adjacent plot of land owned by Copeland’s Eagle Mountain International Church doesn’t receive a parsonage exemption. Instead, the 35.6 acres of property receives an agricultural exemption. For 2023, Copeland’s church owes $37.89 in property tax for the 35.6 acres of land.
Jesse Duplantis
In 2015, while preaching at the Southwestern Believers Convention, Duplantis joked about how his parsonage will be destroyed on judgment day, “God will burn it down.” Then, Duplantis said, “To build that house is $500 a square foot. It’s 40,000 square foot … You do the math.”
Duplantis exaggerated the size of his plantation-style home. When the parsonage was under construction the St Charles Herald Guide reported, “The home consists of 22,039 square feet of living space in addition to 12,947 square feet of accessory areas such as outdoor patios and garages.”
If Duplantis’ home wasn’t tax-exempt and were appraised at $20 million, which is the amount Duplantis says it is worth, the property tax would be approximately $122,000 according to the Smart Asset property tax calculator. Property tax rates are lower in Louisiana because the state has an income tax unlike its neighbor Texas.
I.V. Hilliard
Televangelist I.V. Hilliard founded New Light Church in 1984 and lives in the church-owned 24,939 square foot mansion which is part of an eight-residence housing compound.
In 2023, Harris County appraised the New Light Church’s eight-house compound at $7,966,887.
By using the parsonage tax exemption, Hilliard and the other residents avoided paying an estimated $152,168 in property taxes.
Pedro Popoff
Televangelist Peter Popoff’s Word for the World Church owns a parsonage in Bradbury, California, which is currently for sale at $7.3 million.
Because of the parsonage tax exemption, Popoff saves approximately $39,000 in property taxes.
In 1986, Popoff was busted in an exposé that aired on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson which revealed that information Popoff claimed to receive from God was actually transmitted to him by his wife via a radio earpiece.
Este artículo fue publicado originalmente por Trinity Foundation.
Barry Bowen es un miembro del personal de Fundación Trinidad, una organización pública sin fines de lucro con sede en Dallas, Texas, que ha estado rastreando el fraude religioso y ayudando a las víctimas durante más de 30 años.
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10 Respuestas
I guess the NT example in Luke 9 or the example of Paul working a day job as a tent maker doesn’t apply to this assortment of grifters, con artists, and hucksters. Of course, many of these are the Word of Faith and Prosperity Gospel heretics and they make Johann Tetzel look like look like St. Matthew.
“Sow a seed [to my ministry] and God will prosper you” = “As soon as a coin in the coffer rings / the soul from purgatory springs.”
But at least the public can visit the tangible results of Tetzel’s scheme (St. Peter’s in Rome), unlike Copeland’s and others mansions and compounds…
You will never hear any one of them preach on these verses. God has obligated himself to meet the needs of his children, not their wants, and Jesus did not live a wealthy lifestyle. The “preachers” mentioned in the article are liars and frauds.
Matthew 6: 31-33
31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Luke 9: 57-58
57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
I am a believer with 501(c)3 originally started for the Deaf Community. We still serve the Deaf but have branched out with Counseling and Learning in the horse arena. Amazing work. I’ve watch this NP thing wishing I could have begun in 2002 with another option. NP not religion based have to turn a yearly IRS report 990 which is extensive accounting detail and all assets listed along with unrelated income to be taxed. Religious 501(c)3 do not have any such accountability reporting! This is absurd!!!
I lived in Fremont CA and attended Jubilee church a couple times when they had the original pastor. The worst house in the worst neighborhood there is at least $1M. I left because of the crowd of 10m people in the Bay Area, terrible crime, liberalism, polytheism run rampant and stress of my husbands commute. Now I’ll never be able to afford my old house but it’s ok. Read “San Fransicko” to learn more about the area but that’s crazy almost $8M for a “parsonage”. The preacher and his wife where we were members lived in a tiny rental. They had to keep moving since their houses kept being sold. They were had workers, faithful, true and deserved better. I’m unfollowing Carpentrr!
The US government needs to redefine “parsonage” to be tax exempt. It probably goes back to days when there was a modest bungalow attached or close to the church. Many congregations of smaller churches can no longer afford the upkeep. That these televangelist get “support” money from poor people to pay for this lifestyle is appalling. Who needs such a size property anyway???!! The words of Jesus, “What profit a man to gain the world and and lose their soul” should chill anyone to the bones.
Oh….the line “it will be easier for a camel to pass thru eye of needle than the rich to enter heaven” should be sufficient to give persistent sleepless nights to certain of these televangelists and others like them; if not most of them.
The scripture has very little great things to say about accumulating material wealth and hoarding treasures in this life; and worse off, doing so while exploiting the poor, orphans and widows. Heaping up wrath for the last day…..I tell ya. James 5 has a few sobering words for them too.
Mammon is powerful spirit/god. For by pursuit of riches, many have erred from faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.
O LORD: “Give me neither poverty nor riches. Give me just enough for my needs. Lest I grow rich and deny you; or lest I be poor and steal, to take your Name in vain.” Mishle (proverbs) 30:9.
In Mathew 17, Jesus pays his tax even though He indicated to Peter he could legally claim an exemption.
Romans 13 tells Christians the God given reason why they pay taxes:
“For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.”
Prenda
I don’t think that the tax exempt model is biblical.
Disestablishment and free exercise (the separation of church and state) in America means that the government does not collect taxes to support the church (as they did in colonial New England) and the church does not pay taxes to support the government. It’s a fair exchange. Whether a parsonage should be taxed differs from state to state. In Maine, parsonages owned by the church are taxed except for a $20,000 exemption (because the law has never been updated). Homes owned by the pastor are taxed the same as for everyone else. If a multi-million dollar house is owned by the church, we can debate whether that property should be taxed. Perhaps we should still oppose taxing property used for religious purposes but support taxing property used for housing.
SW: I think your point is moot about free exercise since the taxes in question are property taxes, not income taxes. Churches who take this route with extravagant trophy parsonages know they are unfairly burdening the other property owners and abuse their non-profit status. Property taxes pay for schools and local services like roads, parks, fire departments and police. From an ethical and biblical perspective, how can any church justify extravagant parsonages and not pay for services they receive? I wonder how many of these pastors actually reside in the parsonage or have a different residence? Or how many reside in the parsonage and get a tax-deductible housing allowance too- illegally double-dipping. Just wondering if anyone checks.
In Canada, where I live, church buildings are typically exempt from property taxes. This is right and fitting and I am glad that the practice exists. It allows smaller, established churches to continue serving their communities.
Parsonages, whether attached or at a separate location, are not exempt property taxes as a general rule. This also is fitting.