You probably know a little about Joyce Meyer, if you surf through all your cable channels or browse most bookstores.
She's an energetic matronly type who appeals mostly to middle-aged women with her story of overcoming her problems in life through Jesus Christ.
And became very rich in the process, according to the
St Louis Post-Dispatch.
Meyer is not overtly Republican, but most of the Dobson/Rove political preachers are also quite well-off, and could not withstand any sustained, thorough examination of their finances.
Expanding what the Post-Dispatch has done with Meyer (about which more below) to the more political, but no less profiteering, Dobsonian tele-preachers would be a great Kossack project.
According the the Post Dispatch, Meyer has made a mint off her preaching business:
TV evangelist Joyce Meyer and her family have received millions in salary and benefits from her worldwide ministry in recent years, according to newly released records.
snip
Among the details included in the financial statements, board minutes and other documents Meyer provided to the assessor of Jefferson County in a dispute over the tax-exempt status of its headquarters property:
The ministry's board of trustees, which is headed by Joyce Meyer, agreed to pay her a $900,000 annual salary in 2002 and 2003.
The board agreed to give her husband, Dave Meyer, the board's vice president, an annual salary of $450,000 in each of those same two years.
The board agreed to provide the couple with free personal use of a corporate jet and luxury cars, a $2 million home where all bills are paid by the ministry and a separate $50,000-a-year housing allowance.
The ministry paid $1.475 million to buy three houses for the three Meyer children.
The board authorized Joyce and Dave Meyer to control a $790,000 fund to be used at their discretion for bonuses to "executive management."
The job duties of seven employees of the ministry include sorting gifts "personally received" for Joyce and David Meyer, including cash and jewelry.
Here's the bit that applies to Dobson, Robertson, Falwell, etc., who undoubtedly do not live in three-bedroom ranches and make $50,000 a year:
Federal law bars founders of tax-exempt religious organizations from reaping huge personal benefits from their ministries. Salaries of religious leaders must be reasonable, meaning they must fall in line with those of other religious leaders in the area, according to the law.
One brave public official believes that Meyer's very profitable business should pay local property taxes, which is how all these juicy details became available to an enterprising reporter:
Joyce Meyer Ministries has been battling Jefferson County Assessor Randy Holman for several years to keep its $30 million headquarters and its contents off the tax rolls.
Holman has maintained that the ministry's property does not qualify to be tax exempt.
Under the law, a religious organization can be tax exempt only if its property is used for the public good and only if public church services are held regularly at the site, Holman said. Meyer's headquarters has no public services; its chapel is used only by the 600 employees who produce and sell tapes and books, broadcast Meyer's television program and collect money for the ministries.
Holman contends that the ministry is a business - the business of selling Joyce Meyer.
If the headquarters were removed from the tax rolls, local governments, schools and other agencies would lose $761,741 this year alone.
Joyce Meyer Ministries has paid its taxes under protest and is appealing Jefferson County's actions. The Missouri Tax Commission is expected to hold a hearing in the coming months.
The ministry's appeal meant it had to provide the assessor with otherwise private records - minutes of board meetings, income statements, organizational charts and employee job descriptions. Once the assessor had them, they became public under Missouri law.
Holman argues that the Meyer family is personally profiting from the ministry. The law states that exempt religious property "cannot be held for private or corporate profit," he said.
snip
"She's using the ministry for her own private gain," Holman said. "That's the position we're taking."
Records filed with the assessor also show that collecting money and gifts is a major part of the work at the headquarters. Dozens of workers count the money streaming in each day. And seven ministry workers spend at least part of their time keeping track of the personal gifts that go through the ministry to Joyce and Dave Meyer, according to their job descriptions.
Sure, the IRS should get involved in the abuse of tax exemptions by political preachers, like the uber-wingnut in North Carolina. But all politics is local, and religious profiteers like Dobson, Robertson, Falwell, etc., should be paying local property taxes on their mansions and book-selling, money-counting and broadcasting properties.
The Jefferson County assessor is surely not alone; all local governments are looking for more revenues at a time when the feds and the states are cutting back big-time.
Let's help them.