
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, October 9, 1993                   TAG: 9310090084
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: B9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: HOUSTON                                LENGTH: Short

BAPTIST LEADER MUST PAY BACK TAXES

The Rev. Ed Young, pastor of Second Baptist Church and president of the Southern Baptist Convention, will have to pay 10 years of back taxes on his home, a review board has ruled.

A three-member review board of the Harris County Appraisal District rejected Young's claim that a new state law limited his liability to five previous years.

Thursday's ruling means Young will be required to pay an estimated $60,000 in back taxes on his 5,600-square-foot home, which is now valued at more $600,000.

The tax problem stems from an arrangement in which Young's house in the upscale Memorial area was deeded to him over 15 years after he became pastor in 1978.

The church paid full taxes on the home five years before it received a tax exemption in 1983. Young's ownership was not known by the appraisal district.

At issue was a new state law that took effect Sept. 1 reducing the retroactive billing period in certain taxing cases from 10 to five years.

Young's attorney claimed the pastor's case fell under that law, but the panel disagreed.

The appraisal district will now notify the appropriate government agencies of the taxable values of the home for the past 10 years, and those agencies will then send bills for the taxes due.

In 1992, he was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention. He was re-elected this year.

by CNB