M.F. Ham Evangelistic Ass'n. v. Matthews

• Decision Date: 08 June 1945
• Citation: 300 Ky. 402
• Parties: Mordecia F. Ham Evangelistic Ass'n v. Matthews, Sheriff, et al.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court — District of Kentucky

300 Ky. 402

Mordecia F. Ham Evangelistic Ass'n v. Matthews, Sheriff, et al.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky. Chancery Branch, First Division.

June 8, 1945.

1. Taxation. — A church is not inherently immune from liability for

support of government and exemption from taxation must come from express waiver of the sovereign.

2. Taxation. — Constitutional provision for exemption from taxation will be strictly construed and all doubts and implications will be resolved against exemption. Const. sec. 170.

3. Taxation. — A claim to exemption from taxation must be clearly established by proof of facts essential to bringing claimant within contemplation of Constitution. Const. sec. 170.

4. Taxation. — Words "religious society" in constitutional tax exemption provision, are to be taken in their ordinary acceptation as understood by framers of Constitution and the people who adopted it, and as meaning an association or body of communicants of a church usually meeting at some stated place for worship or for instruction, or organized for accomplishment or religious purposes such as instruction or dissemination of some tenet or particular faith or otherwise furthering its teachings. Const. sec. 170.

5. Taxation. — Where corporation was organized for promotion of Christian evangelization by ordained minister and his wife and was a one man organization, and the minister conducted evangelistic services throughout the country and over radio, independent of religious denomination and was supported by voluntary contributions, voluntary contributors and the audiences were not a "society" within constitutional provision exempting parsonages owned by religious societies and corporation's house, in which minister resided, was not exempt from taxation as a "parsonage" owned by a "religious society." Const. sec. 170.

Appeal from Jefferson Circuit Court.

Thomas C. Fisher for appellants.

Lawrence S. Grauman for appellee.

Before Lawrence F. Speckman, Judge.

OPINION OF THE COURT BY STANLEY, COMMISSIONER.

Affirming.

The question is one of tax exemption. The answer is to be found in the intent and meaning of the term "religious society" as used in Section 170 of the Constitution of Kentucky, which exempts "all parsonages or residences owned by any religious society, and occupied as a home, and for no other purpose, by the minister of any religion, with not exceeding one-half acre of ground in towns and cities and two acres of ground in the country appurtenant thereto."

The appellant, Mordecai F. Ham Evangelistic Association, was organized in 1936 under the provisions of Section 879 et seq., Kentucky Statutes (now KRS 273.020 et seq.), which cover the incorporation of religious, charitable and educational institutions without capital stock or private pecuniary profit. It holds title to residence property in Louisville of the value of about $15,000, which the Reverend Mordecai F. Ham occupies as a home. The corporation brought this suit against the assessing and tax-collecting officers of the state and county to enjoin the assessment and collection of taxes on this property.

The Reverend Mr. Ham has been engaged in conducting Christian evangelistic services throughout the country for forty years and more, and in recent years over the radio, independent of any religious denomination, or as extra-denominational. It appears that he is an ordained minister and a member of a local church, but the denomination is not disclosed. All receipts of money, which come from voluntary contributions, are credited to the account of the Association. Out of the account are paid the expenses of operation, including salaries of associates and helpers in the evangelistic field, the rent or cost of temporary tabernacles or tents, the cost of radiocasting, and the publication and distribution of religious tracts from the residence, in which is located also auxiliary radio broadcasting equipment. Financial aid is given to young men for theological education. No definite salary or fixed compensation is paid Dr. Ham, but all of his personal and living expenses and apparently whatever money he desires are paid out of the funds of the Association. He draws upon the account as he pleases without limitation of any kind save that the checks are also signed by the treasurer of the corporation, who it is said handles all the funds. Insurance is carried on his life for the benefit of the Association. No audit or accounting of funds has ever been made for any one. The incorporators of the plaintiff Association were the Reverend Ham and his wife.

They with two others are the officers and directors, the board being self-perpetuating. The usual formalities of meeting of directors and keeping of corporate records seem not to be observed. There are no members of the Association unless, as claimed by the appellant, the congregation and radio audiences and the numerous persons who make contributions are to be regarded as members.

The Articles of incorporation declare that the purpose of the corporation is "the promotion of the work of Christian evangelization, especially to promote the evangelistic work of Reverend M.F. Ham, but it shall have authority to promote the evangelistic work of any other evangelist whose work the Association may approve."

Democracy is the outgrowth of Christianity. Although the constitutional decree of freedom of religion and worship embraces any faith, Compton v. Moore, 156 Ky. 544, 161 S.W. 540, 542, ours is a Christian nation. United States v. Macintosh, 283 U.S. 605, 51 S. Ct. 570, 575, 75 L. Ed. 1302. It is of interest to note that the preamble of the Constitution of Kentucky, like that of most every other state, contains or consists of a prayer of gratitude and invocation for our political and civil blessings. Notwithstanding all this, and the immeasurable benefit of religion to the structure of society, even in the temporal way, there is no inherent immunity in the church from liability for the support of the government. Indeed, that obligation finds sanction in the biblical injunction that every citizen should, "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's," the statement having special reference to the payment of taxes. Immunity or exemption must come from an express waiver of the sovereign. In Kentucky the waiver relating to charitable institutions, as it is educational, is very broad and liberal, but in respect to the church it is narrow and strict, as recently pointed out in City of Louisville v. Presbyterian Orphans Home Society, 299 Ky. 566, 186 S.W. 2d 194. The waiver relating to churches or religious societies is limited to "places actually used for religious worship, with the grounds attached thereto and used and appurtenant to the house of worship," limited as to area, and "all parsonages or residences owned by any religious society, and occupied as a home, and for no other purpose, by the minister of any religion," also limited as to area. Section 170, Kentucky Constitution.

It is a rule of general application that provisions for exemption from payment of taxes will be strictly construed, and all doubts and implications resolved against it. Gray v. Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Widows & Orphans Home, 272 Ky. 646, 114 S.W. 2d 1141. A claim to exemption must be clearly and positively established by proof of facts essential to bringing the claimant within the contemplation of the Constitution. "Equality under law is one of our cherished principles. Duties and rights are reciprocal. It is the duty of every citizen, corporate or natural, to bear his share of the cost of government for the protection and benefits which he receives from it." Kesselring v. Bonnycastle Club, 299 Ky. 585, 186 S. W. 2d 402, 403. And, as said in Commonwealth v. Trustees of Hamilton College, 125 Ky. 329, 101 S.W. 405, 406, "the spirit in which this exemption from the burdens of taxation is allowed cannot be trifled with or evaded by any scheme or device that might defeat the purpose of the exemption."

It is of interest, if not of pertinence, that the debate in the Constitutional Convention in relation to exemption from taxation was vigorous and extended. There was considerable support for the proposition that all church property should be taxed, and many participants in the discussion pointed to the experiences in ancient days of the evils of large tax-free accumulations of property by the church or religious societies. The clause relating to the exemption of ministers' homes was adopted by the narrow margin of one vote as an amendment to the report of...