ATLANTA (AP) - In a story April 11 about a tax exemption for a private college, The Associated Press reported erroneously the location of LaGrange College. The school is located in LaGrange, Georgia, not Decatur, Georgia.
A corrected version of the story is below:
Ga. lawmakers approve tax break for private Baptist college
Ga. lawmakers approve tax break for private college with mission of spreading Christian faith
By KATHLEEN FOODY
Associated Press
ATLANTA (AP) - Georgia lawmakers carved out a tax break to a private college in a last-minute bill, exempting a school focused on preparing students as Baptist faith evangelists from paying up to $350,000 in sales taxes on construction materials for a new recreation center.
The change, passed by lawmakers April 2, isn’t the first time Georgia lawmakers have given private schools a break. Legal scholars say the construction exemption likely would survive a challenge but critics say it doesn’t pass a common sense test for determining who should pay taxes and who shouldn’t.
Truett-McConnell College’s students are required to complete 16 hours of classes toward a “Great Commission” minor - named after Jesus’ charge to his apostles that they spread his word. The Cleveland, Ga. school’s website describes its mission as “fostering a Christian Worldview through a biblically-centered education” and invites visitors to call 1-800-JESUS-20 or chat online for spiritual help.
State Sen. Nan Orrock, an Atlanta Democrat, said she voted ’no’ because no meaningful discussion of the bill was allowed in the session’s final moments. Gov. Nathan Deal has not yet acted on the measure.
“I haven’t heard the compelling policy argument for that,” she said, referring to the private college construction exemption. “I would hate to see the situation where anytime an entity wants to build something, they apply for a sales tax exemption.”
State Sen. Bruce Thompson, R-White, sponsored the measure and said this week that he wrote the exemption at the request of Truett-McConnell officials.
“I don’t think it’s a big deal, and here’s why: Most Americans file an itemized tax return so they can take advantage of tax benefits and exemptions out there,” Thompson said. “This is the same situation.”
Thompson became a trustee at the school within the last year. He says the position includes no payment and defended the exemption. School officials said trustees are elected by congregations’ representatives at the Georgia Baptist Convention’s meetings, as one of three schools owned by the GBC.
Truett-McConnell is in the midst of a campaign to build a new $13 million student recreation center, including a running track, aquatic center and “president’s suite.” Enrollment has grown rapidly at the campus about 80 miles north of Atlanta, from 520 students in 2009 to more than 1,600 five years later including online students and high school students earning credits.
“Now, it is incumbent that we must radically transform the campus so we can radically transform many lives for Christ,” the college’s president Emir Caner wrote in a letter posted on a site detailing the facility.
Caner, who came to Truett-McConnell in 2008, became a prominent speaker within the Baptist community after co-writing a 2002 book with his brother about their conversion from Islam to Christianity. Muslim organizations criticized the brothers’ portrayal of the Islamic faith as inherently violent.
Caner said this week that he’d like the state to give a blanket sales tax exemption for any private school building and argues that private schools save the state money on capital projects and public higher education.
“When a public university wants to build, they can go to the state and ask,” Caner said. “A private university doesn’t get that right of course. We’re growing our campuses without costs to the state.”
The measure would not only benefit Truett-McConnell. Any private schools with enrollment between 1,000 and 3,000 could get a refund for state sales taxes for eligible purchases between July 1 and June 30, 2016.
According to the latest available enrollment figures from fall 2013, at least 15 private colleges or universities could be eligible.
But only Truett-McConnell was named in a fiscal note given to lawmakers estimating the bill’s financial effects - $152,000 lost by the state and $114,000 lost by local governments in White County.
Caner said the school expects to claim all $350,000 in state sales taxes permitted by the bill.
At least 12 schools are outside the enrollment range. For instance, Clark Atlanta University’s 3,458 students put it above the cap while LaGrange College in LaGrange, Georgia, comes in below eligibility with 940 students.
Thompson said he may try to broaden the exemption next year.
Legal scholars said it’s unclear whether the Truett-McConnell’s religious ties could put the construction exemption outside legal bounds. Georgia’s constitution prevents public money being taken for direct or indirect aid “of any church, sect, cult, or religious denomination or of any sectarian institution.”
But universities such as Georgetown or organizations such as Catholic Charities have been classified as affiliates to religious institutions, allowing government aid, said David Barkey, religious freedom counsel for the Anti-Defamation League. Challenges to exemptions for private schools in other states also have failed despite arguments that tax breaks are indirect state aid to churches, he said.
The final hours of the 40-day legislative session creates a rush to approve bills before midnight, when proposals die for the year. The change was inserted on the final session day by a conference committee of lawmakers that including Thompson.
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