City official retaliates against Prop. 8 supporters

Charlie Butts and Marty Cooper - OneNewsNow - 1/26/2009 6:40:00 AM

A California tax assessor wants to tax the Catholic Church after Proposition 8 was passed by voters.

LifeSiteNews.com reports Phil Ting, who supports homosexual marriage and fought against Prop. 8, is calling for a $15 million tax after the Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco restructured its leadership and consolidated its property nearly seven months ago.

Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment declaring marriage to be a union between one man and one woman, passed last November on California's ballot. It was heavily supported by the Catholic Church as well as the Mormon Church.

The archdiocese responded by filing legal action against Ting, and many traditional marriage supporters are questioning his motives. Randy Thomasson is founder of and president of Campaign for Children and Families.

"Why do we have a First Amendment?" he asks. "Why do we have freedom of religion in the U.S. Constitution and the California state constitution?"

Ting's approach, according to Thomasson, is rife with ulterior motives. "If it's not an evil thing that's being done, it's an incompetenence issue thing," he contends. "Well now that homosexual marriage has been stopped at the ballot, it looks like Phil Ting knows who he can get to satisfy his lust to destroy marriage."

Thomasson hopes a higher court will give the case a just analysis.