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Second Church of Christ Scientist of Philadelphia v. City of Philadelphia, 398 Pa. 65, 157 A.2d 54, 75 A.L.R.2d 1103

Facts

The case involves two churches in Philadelphia that created parking lots on land contiguous to their church buildings. The parking lots were used solely for parking, with no religious services held on the premises. The lower court denied the churches' application for tax exemption, leading to an appeal to the Superior Court, which initially reversed the decision. The Supreme Court then took the case on allocatur to determine the tax status of the parking lots.

Although the churches are in different parts of Philadelphia, the essential facts, which are simple and not in dispute, are alike. The land in both cases is used solely for parking, no religious services are held on it, and it is not needed for ingress or egress or for light and air.

Issue

Whether the parking lots owned by the churches, which are used solely for parking and not for any religious services, are exempt from city and school real estate taxation.

The issue is not whether these churches may have parking lots on their land but only whether the ones they have are to be taxable or exempt. We think they are taxable.

Rule

The exemption of church property from taxation is constitutionally restricted to actual places of worship, and the necessary status of the ground annexed is legislative. The property must be used for public purposes, actual places of religious worship, or other specified exemptions.

The State Constitution, in Article IX, Section 1, P.S., provides: ‘* * * the General Assembly may, by general laws, exempt from taxation public property used for public purposes, actual places of religious worship, places of burial not used or held for private or corporate profit, institutions of purely public charity, and real and personal property owned, occupied, and used by any branch, post, or camp of honorably discharged soldiers, sailors, and marines.’

Analysis

The court analyzed the use of the parking lots in relation to the constitutional and legislative requirements for tax exemption. It concluded that since the parking lots were not used for any religious observance and did not serve as an actual locus of worship, they did not meet the criteria for exemption. The court referenced previous cases to support its position that only property directly associated with religious activities could qualify for tax exemption.

To achieve it, appellees offer very meager fare from the precedents. In the First Baptist Church case we spoke of ‘necessary’ as being reasonable and not absolute, but at once excluded from it what is merely desirable. We also limited necessity to entrance, exit, light, and air, and denied exemption.

Conclusion

The Supreme Court reversed the Superior Court's decision and affirmed the orders of the Court of Common Pleas and the board of revision of taxes, denying the churches' petition for exemption.

The judgment of the Superior Court is reversed. The orders of Judge Levinthal of the court below and of the Board of Revision of Taxes are affirmed, and the petition for exemption is denied.

Who won?

The City and School District prevailed in the case because the Supreme Court found that the parking lots did not qualify for tax exemption as they were not used for religious purposes.

The judgment of the Superior Court is reversed and orders of the Court of Common Pleas and of the board of revision of taxes affirmed and petition for exemption denied.

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