United?

This reflection picture is from Joe's Bakery over on E. Seventh Street. Joe's, not Jose's, and waving the flag. Assimilation. Agreement. That's worth reflecting on.

There is currently a big flap here in Austin over Hyde Park Baptist Church refusing to rent their 'sports complex' to an Interfaith group for a Thanksgiving celebration. They found out that, zuts alor, non-Christians might show up and pray. That a church can operate tax-free a place that they 'rent' to other groups is what galls me. If a for-profit business refused to rent to a group, they'd be sued. Instead we let these people run a business (where would Jesus play basketball?) and skate taxes. All taxes. Including the property taxes we have to pay. Non-profits with exclusions of who is welcome there shouldn't get these breaks, in my opinion. Not charging property taxes to a real non-profit is another thing entirely.

See the table below? Yeah, that is just one of the 46 properties that belong to Hyde Park Baptist Church assessed in Austin and not taxable by any entity. It's the property worth over a million dollars, removed from tax roles by these good Christians. You are paying for their sport complex every day if you live in Austin by paying higher taxes yourself. You apparently also pay if you want to use the complex...if they will let you! Depends on whether you recognize their devotion to their one true religion as correct. I get it, of course. Can you imagine Jesus looking down on that church's sports megaplex and hearing someone offering up a wrong-headed prayer? Whoa.

	Entity Name		Assessed Value	Taxable Value
	TRAVIS CENTRAL APP DIST		1,400,275.00	0.00
	AUSTIN ISD		1,400,275.00	0.00
	CITY OF AUSTIN		1,400,275.00	0.00
	TRAVIS COUNTY		1,400,275.00	0.00
	TRAVIS CO HEALTHCARE DIST		1,400,275.00	0.00
	AUSTIN COMM COLL DIST		1,400,275.00	0.00