San Francisco Accuses Catholic Diocese of Tax Dodge

San Francisco’s tax assessor has accused the city’s Roman Catholic archdiocese of dodging taxes on the transfer of more than 200 of its properties to a new nonprofit organization, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Phil Ting, the city’s assessor-recorder, says the Archdiocese of San Francisco has refused to pay taxes for shifting the ownership 232 of its properties to a new charitable group. The church, which could be assessed $15-million in levies, has appealed the tax bill.

The dispute, which will be aired at an appeals hearing next week, could have implications for hundreds of other nonprofit groups. Charities are subject to taxes on the sale or transfer of property. The church contends that the assets were moved as part of an internal reorganization and did not, as the city says, involve the transfer of property to a separate entity.

Mr. Ting says he plans to argue at the hearing that the church moved the properties to a new organization to prevent their loss or sale to help pay millions in settlements stemming from dozens of lawsuits brought by sexual-abuse victims.

Maurice Healy, a spokesman for the archdiocese, rejects that notion, saying the argument is “beneath” Mr. Ting and “shames the city of San Francisco.”