Some Texas religious leaders live in lavish, tax-free estates thanks to obscure law

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Houston Chronicle

INVESTIGATIONS // UNFAIR BURDEN

Some Texas religious leaders live in lavish, tax-free estates thanks to obscure law

ERIC DEXHEIMER, JAY ROOT, STEPHANIE LAMM * Dec. 9, 2021 * Updated: Dec. 9, 2021 12:26 p.m.

This fall, county officials mailed out property tax bills to the owners of a 10-bedroom, 10.5-bath Houston-area mansion, an 8,000-square-foot residence in a historic San Antonio neighborhood, an elegant Highland Park estate in Dallas and a house on more than an acre overlooking Corpus Christi Bay. The homes are worth millions of dollars. In each case, their 2021 tax bill was identical:

Zero.

Most people know that religious organizations pay no property taxes on their houses of worship. Lesser known is that many also get a valuable break on residences for their clergy as well.

The word “parsonage,” as these residences are called, conjures images of humble, spartan rooms attached to drafty churches. A few still are.

Yet in many places across Texas, parsonages are extravagant estates nestled in the state’s most exclusive enclaves. Like their wealthy neighbors, the clergy occupants enjoy spacious and well-appointed homes, immaculate grounds, tennis courts, swimming pools, decorative fountains and serene grottos.

Unlike their neighbors, the parsonage owners pay nothing in taxes, leaving other Texans to backfill the uncollected revenue to cover the cost of schools, police and firefighters.

State law allows religious organizations to claim tax-free clergy residences of up to 1 acre. Yet each of the state’s counties has its own appraiser responsible for overseeing local properties. So no one entity has examined how many parsonages there are in Texas, their value and their legality.

A first-of-its-kind Houston Chronicle investigation analyzing thousands of pages of property records found:

{snip}

Read more: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/investigations/unfair-burden/article/parsonages-religion-texas-tax-free-clergy-homes-16678079.php

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What even *is* religion? Is Karate a religion? How about BMX? Texas tax appraisers say yes.

“If you come and tell me that you have some religion, and basically all you do is color all day and that's your religion, I can't judge and say it's not religion"

Link to tweet

[LeftInTX]

1. Article is totally paywalled...

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. Tell me about it. I had to work to get to it. You can do it if you're fast enough. NT

[LeftInTX]

3. When I google "pastor owns 8,000 square ft in San Antonio historic district" this what came up

https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2021/12/07/homeowners-american-dream-turned-historic-home-headache/

I'm hoping the San Antonio Express-News prints the story (Houston Chronicle and Express-News often share stories)

Anyway, wondering if the 8,000 square foot home is Hagee's...LOL

[LeftInTX]

5. OK...I found out the 8,000 sq foot residence belongs to the Oblates

It's not on Kings Highway though.

They are open to the public and a bunch of them live there, not just one. They have created a park-like atmosphere. One part is a replica of the Lourdes Grotto, the other part is full of palms and tropical plants that the brothers have tended to over the years. It's really a cool place and sort of a tourist stop.

https://www.grottosa.org/

[hamsterjill]

10. Hagee's in The Dominion

He, via Cornerstone, has some hefty land holdings near Tarpley, too.

[AverageOldGuy]

4. All the more reason . . .

. . . to remove the tax exempt status from churches and everything associated with them

[keithbvadu2]

6. God will provide, but the flock/suckers will provide even more.

God will provide, but the flock/suckers will provide even more.

[dalton99a]

7. Kick

• The state’s most populous counties identified 2,683 parsonages worth about $1 billion, costing other residents who must fund school districts and local governments $16 million every year. The true cost is almost certainly higher because several large counties did not or could not respond, and even those that did conceded they did not regularly update values for the tax-exempt properties.

• There is no dollar limit to a parsonage’s tax exemption. At least 28 of the clergy residences were worth more than $1 million.

• Compared to some other states, Texas’ parsonage law is vague and permissive, allowing appraisers little leverage to question the legitimacy of a religion or clergy member. A lack of enforcement authority means the process effectively operates on the honor system.

• Across Texas’ largest counties, the Chronicle identified more than 30 parsonages for which appraisers had granted the 100 percent tax break even though they exceed the law’s 1-acre limit. Presented with the Chronicle’s findings, 13 appraisal districts said they were initiating reviews of parsonages in their jurisdictions.

[sarcasmo]

8. That's why Joel Osteen lives in Houston.

[TexasBushwhacker]

9. Joel Osteen's humble abode

?imwidth=720

On almost 2 acres of land

https://hcad.org/property-search/real-property/real-property-search-by-address/

[Comfortably_Numb]

11. Suffering servant there...

[murielm99]

12. Oh, ffs.

If I was rich, I would not want to live like that.

My husband and I are in our seventies. We bought our house, 3 bedrooms and three baths, with an acre of land, when we were raising children. It is too big for us now. However, it is more affordable for us to stay here than to move. Sometimes I feel guilty about staying in such a big place. Other times, I feel exhausted by the upkeep. I can't imagine living in a home like Osteen's. It is obscene.

[TexasBushwhacker]

15. 17K sf, with 2 children

2 acres on some of the most expensive real estate in Houston. Current appraised value is over $11M, and that's a LOT of house in Houston. You can get a very nice house in a very nice part of town for under $2M, easily. Hell, you can get a nice house for under $300K.

[NullTuples]

13. Sure but the residence itself might be under one acre!

[rockfordfile]

14. Corruption

[TexasTowelie]

16. My parents were invited to move into the parsonage where my father was preaching once.

However, he declined the invitation since I was finishing up high school and the new high school where I would have transferred had a poor reputation. Since my father declined to move in, he did ask the church whether my sister and her husband could move in since they were recently married and looking for a place to live. The church and the parsonage were located about five miles out of town on a rural farm road. My sister and her husband did pay rent (they probably got a discount) which helped the church budget and they were also present so it prevented problems with people trespassing and vandalizing both buildings.

Seeing how lavish some of these homes that qualify as parsonages is discouraging since that money should remain in the ministry to be redistributed to the poor.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

17. More from the article:

{snip}



High-profile pastor I.V. Hilliard lives in a 24,900-square-foot home on this 11.8-acre property in Spring. The property has several smaller buildings that are used as a conference and retreat center. The 11.8-acre lot includes three hot tubs, two fountains and a swimming pool and tennis court, property records show.

Jon Shapley, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

{snip}



This $1.3 million property until recently was owned by Strong Tower Ministries, also known as Proverbs 18:10 Ministries. The nonprofit operates a religious addiction treatment center. The facility was not licensed under the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse because its programs are “non-medical” and “exclusively religious in nature.”

Mark Mulligan, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

{snip}

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Chronicle research librarian Joyce Lee contributed to this report.

Page design by Jasmine Goldband and Jordan Ray-Hart

Photo of Eric Dexheimer
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Eric Dexheimer
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Eric Dexheimer began working in the Austin bureau of the Houston Chronicle in December 2018. Prior to that he worked for the Austin American-Statesman, alt-weeklies in Denver and Portland, and community daily and weekly newspapers in Upstate New York. He is originally from Batavia (Exit 48, NYS Thruway).

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Investigative reporter Jay Root has a long track record of breaking stories that prompt action and reform. He put the current Texas attorney general on the path to criminal indictment, helped shut down rampant criminal prosecutions of rent-to-own customers in Texas, and sparked firings and resignations at a free-spending Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. Before starting at the Chronicle, Root was an investigative reporter for the Texas Tribune.

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Stephanie Lamm
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Stephanie Lamm is a data journalist for the Houston Chronicle. She looks for stories in datasets and public records. She also creates interactive graphics for online stories. Stephanie previously worked for the Dallas Morning News and attended The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.