First Baptist Church v. County of Los Angeles

FOX, J. Plaintiff appeals from a judgment denying its claim for a tax refund.

Plaintiff paid under protest the real property taxes for 1949-1950 on three lots and the structure thereon. It contends the property was eligible for the “church exemption” granted by section iy2 of article XIII of the California Constitution.*

On the first Monday of March, 1949, and for some years prior thereto, the plaintiff church corporation was the owner of seven lots contiguous to each other in the city of San Fernando. An old church building was located on four of these lots. This latter property was admittedly exempt from taxation. The remaining three lots, however, “were never exempted from taxation . . . during any tax year prior to 1949.”

On August 30, 1948, plaintiff church held a public groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of a new church on these three lots. On January 9,1949, the church held a public cornerstone-laying ceremony. These ceremonies were conducted by the pastor of the church pursuant to his duties as such pastor, and were essentially religious in nature, and [394]constituted acts of religious worship. When the cornerstone-laying ceremonies took place the new church building was under construction. A portion of this ceremony took place in the old church, which is not located on these lots, and a portion in the immediate vicinity of the front steps of the new building. Many of the persons in attendance at the latter portions of the rites were inside the new building and there observed and listened to the ceremony which took place outside.

The court found that on the first Monday in March, 1949, the new building “was still under construction and was not completed” although it was designed and intended for use as a new church, and that said building was not on that date nor prior thereto used solely and exclusively for religious worship. The first regular Sunday religious services were held in the new church building on April 10, 1949.

Plaintiff contends the ground-breaking and cornerstone-laying observances established the building as “used solely and exclusively for religious worship,” and hence entitled to the church exemption. This position is not well founded.

The rule of “strict but reasonable construction” applies to constitutional provisions and statutes granting exemption from taxation. (Cedars of Lebanon Hospital v. County of Los Angeles, 35 Cal.2d 729, 734-735 [221 P.2d 31,15 A.L.R. 2d 1045].)