Churches, Taxes and the Constitution

Abstract

In Walz v. Tax Commission of the City of New York,' the plaintiff attacked the validity, under the first and fourteenth amendments, of provisions in New York's Constitution and Real Property Tax Laws exempting from state and local property taxes real property owned by a religious corporation and used exclusively for religious purposes. The New York Court of Appeals rejected the challenge, pointing out that "courts throughout the country have long and consistently held that the exemption of such real property from taxation does not violate the Constitution of the United States." The plaintiff has appealed his case to the United States Supreme Court, which, in June, noted probable jurisdiction and placed the case on the summary calendar.