Islamic Teaching On Usury Kills Property Tax Exemption In Tennessee

The Islamic Center of Nashville is listed on guidestar.org as being a church meaning it has 501(c)(3) status, but is not required to file Form 990. They are advertising for an imam and presumably whoever gets the job would qualify for a tax exempt housing allowance under Section 107(2). So you would think that ICN would not have any issues with its property tax exemption, as long as it avoids doing something like running a bookstore and a fitness center as Christ Church Pentecostal of Nashville (which is a bit over nine miles away according to mapquest) did. Only ICN did have a problem with its property tax exemption. And sad to say, the problems come from it being Islamic, although you really can't blame the Tennessee State Board of Equalization, which ruled against ICN. They were following Reilly's First Law of Tax Planning - It is what it is. Deal with it.