PUBLISHED SUNDAY NOVEMBER 16, 1997
Copyright 1997 The Pensacola News Journal. All
rights reserved
3 top ministers
fail to pay
state sales tax
By J. Lowe
Davis
staff writer
PENSACOLA - Florida
taxpayers are getting almost no benefit from the
millions of dollars of Brownsville
Revival-related merchandise.
Three of the revival's four top
ministers are paying no sales tax to the state on
the products they sell. According to the
Department of Revenue, the ministries of Steve
Hill, John Kilpatrick and Lindell Cooley are in
violation of the law.
Brownsville Assembly of God
also pays no tax on its large product line of
videotapes, cassettes, T-shirts and other revival
products it sells.
State law exempts churches from
having to pay sales tax when they buy products
and supplies and from having to collect, and send
to the state, county and city any taxes on the
products they sell.
But the rules are different for
the individual ministers' own nonprofit
corporations -- even though they are selling
their merchandise inside a church, according to a
spokesman for the Department of Revenue.
Unless they meet the state's
narrow definition of a church -- holding regular
worship services at a specific location --
nonprofits need two numbers for the state:
Consumer Exemption
Certificate: This exempts them from paying
tax when they buy things. But having this does
not exempt them from the duty to collect sales
tax when they sell something. When they sell,
they are "dealers" and must have:
Sales Tax Registration:
This is for collecting sales tax on things they
sell. They have to send in the tax monies to the
state.
Three of the nonprofit
corporations handling revival merchandise do not
have dealer registrations. They are pastor John
Kilpatrick's Feast of Fire Ministries, evangelist
Steve Hill's Together in the Harvest and Lindell
Cooley's Music Missions International, Inc.
Chuck Springston, public
information spokesman for the Department of
Revenue, said none of the three are in the
department's records, either for a consumer
exemption certificate or dealer sales tax
registration.
"Unless they registered
under a name other than the one that is commonly
known, they aren't registered," he said.
Kilpatrick will not disclose
any details about his ministry's sales.
He said in an interview with
the News Journal three weeks ago that the
ministry was paying sales tax. Receipts for items
purchased from his ministry, Feast of Fire, do
not show that sales tax was charged.
His attorney, Larry Morris said
last week that he had just learned, via an
opinion from an accounting firm, Feast of Fire
must collect and pay sales tax. He said he was
going to recommend to Kilpatrick that he
"self-report" to the state and pay the
taxes right away.
Hill's ministry, Together in
the Harvest, reported in its most recent IRS
return that its sales totaled $141,592.
Hill said in an interview with
the News Journal three weeks ago that the
ministry was paying sales tax. Receipts for items
purchased from his ministry do not show that
sales tax was charged.
Lindell Cooley's MMI Ministries
has not been charging tax on its products but has
been setting aside 7 percent of its sales revenue
in anticipation that the taxes might be due, said
general manager Larry Day. He said that when the
corporation formed, seven months ago, he asked
the state about the taxes and had been trying to
get a clarification ever since.
On Nov. 7, Day said, he
received an opinion from an accountant that MMI
does have to charge tax.
Michael Brown's ICN Ministries
has a dealer number, indicating it is collecting
sales tax, Springston said. To protect taxpayer
confidentiality, he said, he could not disclose
how much sales tax ICN has paid.
Some items are never taxable,
either when the corporation buys them or sells
them: Bibles, hymn books, prayer books, altar
items, sacramental items, ceremonial raiment and
equipment.
A book of sermons, tapes of
sermons and services and pastors' autobiographies
do not fall within the state's specific
merchandise exemptions, Springston said.
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