29 Ohio St. 2d 95 | Ohio | 1972
Lead Opinion
As a whole, the evidence presented to the Board of Tax Appeals may be characterized as candid and comprehensive. It lays open the internal operation of the corporation, and significantly, the record reflects no evidence, or any suggestion, that the religious operation of the appellee was prompted by a profit motive or initiated for material gain.
The record is, of course, subject to the usual guidelines established in tax cases, one of which provides that statutes relating to an exemption from taxation must be strictly construed. National Tube Co. v. Glander (1952), 157 Ohio St. 407. However, it is not the function of this court to substitute its judgment for that of the Board of Tax Appeals on factual issues, but only to determine from an examination of the record whether the decision reached by the board is unreasonable or unlawful. Hercules Galion Products v. Bowers (1960), 171 Ohio St. 176.
In challenging the exemption, the Tax Commissioner argues that the appellee is not a church but a radio station, and in support of this argument, he has turned to certain definitions of the word “church,” as contained in Black’s Law Dictionary.
But the appellee has likewise submitted various accepted definitions of the same word to support its position, and this multifarious use of the word “church” by the parties themselves tends to show that it is not susceptible to a precise definition.
With a view to substance, we are of the opinion that the appellant’s isolation of the radio station from the to
The Tax Commissioner questions further the propriety of the exemption for the reason that the appellee does not have a body of communicants “gathered together in an order, or united under one form of government.” Essentially, this contention is directed to the interdenominational make-up of the organization.
Admittedly, the appellee is not without some unique features, but having exhibited the essential qualities of a church, and all other things being substantially equal within the contemplation of R. C. 5739.02 (B) (12), we perceive no valid objection to its exempt status merely because it cannot, in a traditional sense, claim a certain congregation. In other words, a church of the type “that finds with joy the grain of gold in every creed, and floods with light and love the germs of good in every soul” cannot reasonably be denied exempt status for that reason alone.
We are of the opinion that the record in this case is fully supportive of the factual determination of the Board of Tax Appeals, and its decision must therefore be affirmed.
Decision affirmed.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting. I cannot agree that appel-lee’s operations, however meritorious they are, constitute a “church” as the General Assembly must have used that term. Appellee has no doctrine and no government for its members with its concomitant, discipline.
It may well be operated for a “charitable purpose,” in the broad sense, but the Board of Tax Appeals properly rejected that contention for the reason that, for a sales tax exemption, the term is most narrowly and specifically defined.