Alaska editorial: More organizations should give of themselves
This editorial appeared in the Ketchikan Daily News:
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In an entitlement society in which agencies increasingly aim to get rather than give, how refreshing it was to read about an Anchorage church's steady insistence on paying its own way for government services.
The Associated Press reported earlier this week that the Anchorage Unitarian Universalist Fellowship has been "assessing" itself for the taxes the church would pay the municipality for local services such as police, fire and road maintenance, and then donating the money to the city. Churches are exempt from property taxes.
The congregation believes in separation of church and state, and in paying its fair share, according to the AP report.
To be sure, the donation of $1,600 a year (to match what would have been its tax bill, had it received one) probably was not a great imposition on the more than 40 people who combined resources to pay it each year.
Nevertheless, it's impressive that church members realized property values had gone up substantially, and, after having the church property reevaluated, more than doubled their contribution to $4,100 this year, to reflect current property values.
Now, we aren't saying that churches or nonprofit organizations ought to pay taxes. And we aren't saying that Unitarians are "better" than other religious folk.
Here's what we're saying: We hope other groups, whatever their mission, look at that example. Instead of asking for government to fund them, maybe some groups could look to their roots, and get support from the folks who especially value what they do. We're looking not so much at "user pays," although that's a fine concept in many instances, but at "supporters pay." Many well-to-do people consistently approach local government to fund their favorite services, when they could put the energy into finding others of like mind to support the service without putting anyone's house at risk.
(Property taxes, you see, are what end up paying for these things. People can lose their homes for failure to pay taxes - so when we add another notch to the list of things for which we say we are willing to tax, we must realize that we are saying we are willing for our neighbors' houses to be taken away if they can't afford our pet project.)
A few less people saying, "Gimme," and a few more saying, "Please, let us help," would go a long way in this society. Especially in a time when Ketchikan Public Utilities is talking about charging 50 cents for a local pay phone call (and may we say, "Yikes!" to that), it's obvious that it's the people, not the government, with the money in these parts. People have always funded government, but lately some people seem to have that idea backwards.
We challenge those who line up at the local lectern each year, explaining all the good they do, and why people should be taxed to support them, to think about what one church in Anchorage did.
When we can, let's ask ourselves, how about we pay our own way?