I have a relative who lives in the ATL, and they are trying to move the low-income residents out of the areas in as many ways possible. Shutting down low-income housing and reselling it to private companies and now the churches all of a sudden owe taxes. So, no one checked just in case over the last 7 years? This won't be the first one...smh.
it is still wrong to do that . they never really think to do the name change because it is non profit .I would go to court to talk to a judge and hire a attorney
Eight years of unpaid property taxes and no one from the tax Commissioner's office thought to try and make contact with the church. They just kept sending the bills to the same old address of the deceased pastor? That smells like gross negligence on the part of the tax Commissioner's office. This could have, and should have been dealt with seven years ago.
@@christianjensen3182 I’m just guessing but someone who is related to or a good friend of the tax commissioner office wants that property and they are crooked
1. Two words “rapidly gentrifying” say a lot. 2. Sounds like (and looks like after a quick Google search) Investa Services should be investigated for their tactics and to make sure they are properly registered with all necessary local, state and federal agencies. 3. County and Sheriff departments need to get their heads out of their behinds and do what’s right in this case and others like it. 4. WSB-TV, keep up the pressure!
1. Okay, cool story. 2. Investa is a valid entity. It has been buying tax liens from the County/City for over 20 years. This is par for the course. 3. This is not an issue for police, it's a matter of ad valorem real estate tax, and that is under the purview of the Fulton Tax Assessor and Fulton Tax Commissioner. The Sheriff's office is only involved because they act as the conveyor of the land, as administrator ex-officio. The Fulton Tax Commissioner (Arthur E. Ferdinand) is the one who signs the tax sale assignments, as Tax Commissioner Ex-Officio Sheriff. 4. It will take news outlets and constant pressure to get the County to do the right thing.
The root of the problem seems to be not updating the records on who is leading/owns the church.. Why hadn't that been done back in 89 when the original pastor died?
Yeah, it does sound a lot like one of the problems here is that whoever should have been running the church's business affairs didn't do a very good job of it. Possibly it was someone who was inexperienced in the role and didn't consider that issues of this nature aren't completely automatic. There are issues on the collections side as well, I think. The practices of selling tax debts to third parties and taking more so long to collect delinquent taxes seem terrible. I don't think those issues make the church blameless, though.
So they were assessed property tax without notice? "Super secret probation" at its worst. The real issue here is not that a church was assessed property taxes, but that a tax assessment was changed without notice to the property and went years without proper notices from the taxing agency. Sounds like intentional theft by government agency.
For all you people that constantly say things about the importance of keeping church and state separate, why is the government taxing a church out of its house of worship?
@@greenearthblueskies8556The general idea of not taxing a non-profit is so that donations/sales can go back into the community. A lot of the churches near me set up weekly dinners and lunches for free to the public for example. Personally I think schools should lose non-profit status first as they actively abuse the status paying teachers below minimum wage and calling it good for the students and teachers (yes this happened to my sister and she was paid only $5/h in 2020-2021).
The church was a home first and then converted. The new owners dropped the ball on correcting ownership. And why wasn't the address updated by the new owners? They were real slack.
am sorry , did you not watch the video? yes they owe that much and they the church should pay it since they use services just like everyone else does.. claiming to know god is not a free ticket to ride... plus Jesus paid his taxes there in the Bible book of Romans chapter 13 verse 6. Pay your taxes
Churches are supposed to be taxed exempt unless this one for some reason didn't qualify for a tax exemption. Additionally tax bills would have been mailed to the property and those working at church would have seen those tax bills They just ignored them
I am a treasurer of a church and we had an issue where we got a tax bill. Yes we are tax exempt, but this was a sewer tax bill that we are responsible for. I can see how this could happen. You need to follow up when you get a bill you are unsure of. Tax exempt does not mean you don’t have to pay any taxes.
@@gage51desoto That's interesting. Where I live it wouldn't be a sewer tax it would just be part of the charge to your utility bills that everybody has to pay. Like my water bill contains my water bill and sewer They calculate sewer based on how much water comes into the house via the water meter.
Another case of BP not taking care of business. If the pastor died, no one updated the info with the county after all of those years? 🤦🏽♂️ But anyway, Jesus didn't have a building and did quite well.
This is not the same scenario at all. In essence, the elite religious leaders of the day were mad that Jesus had pointed out the hypocrisy that they practiced. They tried to trick Him to get a negative response pertaining to Caesar, ruler of Rome. So, He was answering a specific question about paying taxes to Caesar. The context in this event is totally different. One should not give partial quotes without informing on the actual content of the story. It becomes trickery, which in turn devalues one's argument.
@@IBumpg The phrase is often used to express the relationship between the state, government, and church. Some say that Jesus was drawing a distinction between two kingdoms, one of this world ruled by Caesar, and another kingdom not of this world ruled by Jesus. Christians are part of both kingdoms, and have obligations to both Caesar and Christ.
Sounds to me like someone in the church dropped the ball. When pastors change, paperwork must be filed so the guberment knows who to contact and how. Since they were mailing tax notices to a dead pastor means... read my first sentence. People have GOT to stop feeling persecuted and start looking at themselves and the role they play in their own demise. AKA, adulting.
Do you hear yourself? The previous Pastor of the church was never taxed.. died ìn 1989. Then out of nowhere, 2017 the government decides yea lets start taxing a church. And from then to now a non-profit organization owes 67K. You verbiage is so off-putting.
If it’s not listed officially as a church with the county tax office and I don’t know I’m just guessing than it’s still considered a home I guess and there for is taxable I would think
@@billyb6001 Of course if this were a white congregation they'd never mention increased property values like its a terrible thing. The media loves stirring the pot of racial animosity.
The neighborhoods get dramatically improved - they become safe to live in again- and as a result, the people who used to live there can’t afford to stay.
It's a gentrifying area even according to this report. Someone must have thought nobody would notice what this county is up to, or that nobody would have the resources or the initiative to quash it even if they did figure it out. They're just mad because they got caught at it and it's not going to roll their way.
The county is wrong! The question is--how is the church constitution worded? A pastor should never be listed as a legal administrator. There should be a board of directors or trustees depending on how it was formulated. These are supposed to be public records, and are supposed to meet federal IRS guidelines. In the beginning, the previous pastor should have had a qualified attorney do the legal paper work and filings. With a court's help, this problem caused by ignorance and failure of county officials can be made right. Selling the "debt" to a for profit business was done in error and should be nullified. Foreclosing on a church is anathema to the U S Constitution. Fulton County, get your act together and make this right!
In the background, I saw a white guy walking a dog in the neighborhood. In other words, they're about to gentrify that spot homie...you better call on jesus...lol!
Ignoring the issue of whether it's appropriate for a church to be taxed or not, this seems like a strange way to enforce the back taxes. Selling the tax debt to a third party? That's all about collecting the taxes with the least effort possible, and in this case it's going to cause additional problems since there's no way to resolve the issue in the tax collector's office. My state has a different process.
This a the devil at work. There's no way a non-profit organization, a church nonetheless, is going to be stolen because of a clerical error. There was no reason the church to question it's tax status because it was common knowledge that they and ALL churches are exempt from property taxes. I'm glad this has brought to the attention of the Senator and the public.
Someone wants the land and found a way to get it
Exactly This!!
Exactly!
The Tax Commissioner and Investa work together to make that happen
What fast food restaurant, you think?
I have a relative who lives in the ATL, and they are trying to move the low-income residents out of the areas in as many ways possible. Shutting down low-income housing and reselling it to private companies and now the churches all of a sudden owe taxes. So, no one checked just in case over the last 7 years? This won't be the first one...smh.
it is still wrong to do that . they never really think to do the name change because it is non profit .I would go to court to talk to a judge and hire a attorney
@@queen.kristal8395 I agree. As long as the attorney is willing to go toe-to-toe with the bigwigs involved.
Why hide the notification under the door mat? Somebody wants that property trying to take it from them using the tax laws
Eight years of unpaid property taxes and no one from the tax Commissioner's office thought to try and make contact with the church. They just kept sending the bills to the same old address of the deceased pastor? That smells like gross negligence on the part of the tax Commissioner's office. This could have, and should have been dealt with seven years ago.
I agree. Fulton County is known for that level of incompetence.
@@christianjensen3182 I’m just guessing but someone who is related to or a good friend of the tax commissioner office wants that property and they are crooked
1. Two words “rapidly gentrifying” say a lot.
2. Sounds like (and looks like after a quick Google search) Investa Services should be investigated for their tactics and to make sure they are properly registered with all necessary local, state and federal agencies.
3. County and Sheriff departments need to get their heads out of their behinds and do what’s right in this case and others like it.
4. WSB-TV, keep up the pressure!
1. Okay, cool story.
2. Investa is a valid entity. It has been buying tax liens from the County/City for over 20 years. This is par for the course.
3. This is not an issue for police, it's a matter of ad valorem real estate tax, and that is under the purview of the Fulton Tax Assessor and Fulton Tax Commissioner. The Sheriff's office is only involved because they act as the conveyor of the land, as administrator ex-officio. The Fulton Tax Commissioner (Arthur E. Ferdinand) is the one who signs the tax sale assignments, as Tax Commissioner Ex-Officio Sheriff.
4. It will take news outlets and constant pressure to get the County to do the right thing.
I agree. They need to get their heads back where they belong. For some of them, not even a well placed boot would be enough to propel it there.
67k from 2017 🤔🤔🤔
Private companies? That seems questionable practices just from listening.
Fulton county is running a criminal racket. Someone needs to answer some questions
The root of the problem seems to be not updating the records on who is leading/owns the church.. Why hadn't that been done back in 89 when the original pastor died?
Yeah, it does sound a lot like one of the problems here is that whoever should have been running the church's business affairs didn't do a very good job of it. Possibly it was someone who was inexperienced in the role and didn't consider that issues of this nature aren't completely automatic. There are issues on the collections side as well, I think. The practices of selling tax debts to third parties and taking more so long to collect delinquent taxes seem terrible. I don't think those issues make the church blameless, though.
Fulton county stay on Drama lane!!
Sounds like someone is trying to steal the their own church shameful 😢😢😢
Also, why did the sheriff hide the notice under the door mat?
So they were assessed property tax without notice? "Super secret probation" at its worst. The real issue here is not that a church was assessed property taxes, but that a tax assessment was changed without notice to the property and went years without proper notices from the taxing agency. Sounds like intentional theft by government agency.
Seems like Fulton County is in the news a real lot these days and NOT for good reasons.
Theyre trying to force the poor out
For all you people that constantly say things about the importance of keeping church and state separate, why is the government taxing a church out of its house of worship?
All churches should pay taxes. Pastors should pay taxes on their income and their properties. Nothing but a hustle anyway.
Because it’s a piece of property? I’m not affiliated with the government and I still have to pay taxes.
Not paying taxes is like a benefit. So reads like the state is favoring the Church. Jesus said give Cesar what belongs to Cesar.
@@greenearthblueskies8556so your fav charity should too?
@@greenearthblueskies8556The general idea of not taxing a non-profit is so that donations/sales can go back into the community. A lot of the churches near me set up weekly dinners and lunches for free to the public for example.
Personally I think schools should lose non-profit status first as they actively abuse the status paying teachers below minimum wage and calling it good for the students and teachers (yes this happened to my sister and she was paid only $5/h in 2020-2021).
Praying the Lord keeps you afloat
HAIL SATAN
What else could possibly go wrong in Atlanta, Georgia??? Absolutely stunning and unbelievable. 😬😳🙄🤷🏼♂️🤦🏼♂️
This is dirty!
It's "Gods Will", if you believe in that religion BS.
I thought religion was tax exempt?
Not religion. A church.
The church was a home first and then converted. The new owners dropped the ball on correcting ownership. And why wasn't the address updated by the new owners? They were real slack.
Time to call the Blues Brothers. . . .
Action News gets it done please stay on this issues
What about other churches?
What about synagogues?
What the hell is going on in Fulton, it seems like they want to be the new Florida Man....
Why does the church sign say “Temporary Home of”? Are they expecting to lose this case and having to move out?
They knew.
Unpaid taxes and church? Lol we know who has the money just ask the pastor
They can't make them pay. There's no way they owe that much
am sorry , did you not watch the video? yes they owe that much and they the church should pay it since they use services just like everyone else does.. claiming to know god is not a free ticket to ride... plus Jesus paid his taxes there in the Bible book of Romans chapter 13 verse 6. Pay your taxes
since 2017? should be three times that
It’s time for the people to come together and save the church.
Fulton County just keeps messing over their citizens!! Fani gotta get her $$
Churches are supposed to be taxed exempt unless this one for some reason didn't qualify for a tax exemption.
Additionally tax bills would have been mailed to the property and those working at church would have seen those tax bills They just ignored them
I am a treasurer of a church and we had an issue where we got a tax bill. Yes we are tax exempt, but this was a sewer tax bill that we are responsible for. I can see how this could happen. You need to follow up when you get a bill you are unsure of. Tax exempt does not mean you don’t have to pay any taxes.
@@gage51desoto That's interesting. Where I live it wouldn't be a sewer tax it would just be part of the charge to your utility bills that everybody has to pay.
Like my water bill contains my water bill and sewer They calculate sewer based on how much water comes into the house via the water meter.
Another case of BP not taking care of business. If the pastor died, no one updated the info with the county after all of those years? 🤦🏽♂️
But anyway, Jesus didn't have a building and did quite well.
They are investigating the wrong thing. Investigate the financial relationship between the Tax Commissioner and Investa.
Ahh, Fulton County, explains it all.
"Therefore, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."
Matthew 22:21
This is not the same scenario at all. In essence, the elite religious leaders of the day were mad that Jesus had pointed out the hypocrisy that they practiced. They tried to trick Him to get a negative response pertaining to Caesar, ruler of Rome. So, He was answering a specific question about paying taxes to Caesar. The context in this event is totally different. One should not give partial quotes without informing on the actual content of the story. It becomes trickery, which in turn devalues one's argument.
@@IBumpg The phrase is often used to express the relationship between the state, government, and church. Some say that Jesus was drawing a distinction between two kingdoms, one of this world ruled by Caesar, and another kingdom not of this world ruled by Jesus. Christians are part of both kingdoms, and have obligations to both Caesar and Christ.
Didn’t the housing authority just get accused of fraud and corruption?
Sounds to me like someone in the church dropped the ball. When pastors change, paperwork must be filed so the guberment knows who to contact and how. Since they were mailing tax notices to a dead pastor means... read my first sentence. People have GOT to stop feeling persecuted and start looking at themselves and the role they play in their own demise. AKA, adulting.
Do you hear yourself? The previous Pastor of the church was never taxed.. died ìn 1989. Then out of nowhere, 2017 the government decides yea lets start taxing a church. And from then to now a non-profit organization owes 67K. You verbiage is so off-putting.
If it’s not listed officially as a church with the county tax office and I don’t know I’m just guessing than it’s still considered a home I guess and there for is taxable I would think
The federal government or city of Atlanta should purchase and offer a more affordable rent.
Separation of Church and state.
Sue.
Seems odd. Not in this small church, but, come- on man. These big churches needs to pay property rax for fire protection, police
Now that’s a good point
“The band, Elwood! The band!”
This is pure evil they want the church property to build luxury homes. Try to take God‘s property using the devil’s advocate is not a good idea.
I thought churches were tax exempt. 🤔
How can a tax debt be sold to a private company?
The should turn it into a coffee house.
Fulton County...😅
What is with Fulton County? Seems like the prison is running the government.
0:45
Why did they need to say "rapidly gentrifying" like its a bad thing?
Because racism
@@billyb6001 Of course if this were a white congregation they'd never mention increased property values like its a terrible thing. The media loves stirring the pot of racial animosity.
Keeping it real.
If you think "rapidly gentrifying" is not a bad thing, you're part of the problem.
The neighborhoods get dramatically improved - they become safe to live in again- and as a result, the people who used to live there can’t afford to stay.
It's a gentrifying area even according to this report. Someone must have thought nobody would notice what this county is up to, or that nobody would have the resources or the initiative to quash it even if they did figure it out. They're just mad because they got caught at it and it's not going to roll their way.
They turned the tax obligation over to God and he forgot to resolve it. Do your paperwork on time and according to the law.
We pretty much all pay ten percent sales tax. It needs to end there!!
Say no more.. it’s fulton county, what do people expect?
This is how it starts. It will spread from here.
Pray about it...
Let me see what do they have that is different?
Fulton County is real trashy for that. But they want the land. They always want to take land out of Black hands.
Why would they start charging them taxes that don't make sense something's fishy there
We need help from this grievance. Beautiful little church. People doing right and they get slapped down.
They must be doing something rite...what a nasty trick
The county is wrong! The question is--how is the church constitution worded? A pastor should never be listed as a legal administrator. There should be a board of directors or trustees depending on how it was formulated. These are supposed to be public records, and are supposed to meet federal IRS guidelines. In the beginning, the previous pastor should have had a qualified attorney do the legal paper work and filings. With a court's help, this problem caused by ignorance and failure of county officials can be made right. Selling the "debt" to a for profit business was done in error and should be nullified. Foreclosing on a church is anathema to the U S Constitution. Fulton County, get your act together and make this right!
He said generally not definitely about taxes.
This sounds like a scam by Fulton county
They are doing this across the nation
All churches should pay taxes. Instead of laundering money
fulton county is in a lot of trouble for illegally taxing a church!
Money is true evil
No, money's not evil, the LOVE of money is the root of all evil!
@@thomasschwarting5108Facts.
The love of money is the root of evil
Just say a prayer. Seems like God should have told you all y'all Church was in danger of being auctioned off.
Aren’t most nonprofit organizations tax exempt
Yes
Lawsuits fix this
Shady Practices Going On So Obvious🤨
If the state can Tax the Church God can enter the government.
This. 👆
Im not surprised 😮
I thought a church didn't pay taxes
Same. One of those “Separation of Church and State” exemptions.
oh no no no....dont be messin with the House of the Lord...The Lord don't play around...
In the background, I saw a white guy walking a dog in the neighborhood. In other words, they're about to gentrify that spot homie...you better call on jesus...lol!
Fulton- are you CRAZY
Government at its best..
Yikes
They can leave in a huff
😢😢😢😢😢 Sad. the news is. Not blessing 4 the children 😢😢😢
🤔 It’s a church ⛪️ why a church ⛪️ could change to the church ⛪️ name ✅
Only when it comes to the POC' churches! But! God!
Separate church and state 😅😅😅😅
🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
Pastor busy buying expensive cars and suits and baptizing young women.
And you know this how?
Now it’s time for TYLER PERRY to step in and I bet he will.
Churches should pay property taxes…
Then you must also believe that every other nonprofit should pay property taxes.
@@a32tlHow is it non profit when the church accepts donations through tithes and offers.
@@MrMJmusicLover Well, how do you think a nonprofit works? They’re dependent on charity.
Ignoring the issue of whether it's appropriate for a church to be taxed or not, this seems like a strange way to enforce the back taxes. Selling the tax debt to a third party? That's all about collecting the taxes with the least effort possible, and in this case it's going to cause additional problems since there's no way to resolve the issue in the tax collector's office. My state has a different process.
I didn’t think churches had to pay taxes on their land.
oh well
It would be best ,Better to take a loan out and pay it! Sue the city later.. It will take a act of Congress to get it back if they sale it at auction.
????
This a the devil at work. There's no way a non-profit organization, a church nonetheless, is going to be stolen because of a clerical error. There was no reason the church to question it's tax status because it was common knowledge that they and ALL churches are exempt from property taxes. I'm glad this has brought to the attention of the Senator and the public.
😮
Churches should be paying property taxes anyway but at a significantly reduced rate.
Arch Angel Michael 😇
Jjassi jja jjao jjas jo
Lol 😅
So he DID know there was a tax debt, just in another person's name and he never got it changed. Just laziness all around.
Sounds like he just learned of it and is speaking on what he was told transpired.
@@missj5191 Suuuuuurrrreeee he did.
This wouldn't happen to a "white" church