August 4, 2005 | Read Time: 1 minute
A Christian theme park is exempt from paying property taxes, a Florida circuit judge has ruled.
Judge Cynthia Z. MacKinnon said that the Holy Land Experience, a theme park in Orlando, Fla., run by the nonprofit group Zion’s Hope, is closely tied to the charity’s tax-exempt mission of spreading what it considers to be the word of God. The group therefore does not owe property taxes, the judge decided.
The ruling reversed an Orange County property appraiser’s decision that the operation was a tourist attraction, not a church, and was therefore subject to property tax. The park would have owed $786,000 in back taxes through February 2004 if it had been forced to pay.
The $16.5-million, 15-acre park opened in 2001, nine miles from Walt Disney World. It includes a copy of the Ten Commandments, an indoor model of ancient Jerusalem, and a garden tomb that re-creates the burial place of Jesus Christ.
William E. Donegan, Orange County’s property appraiser, said his office will appeal the ruling.
