Ken Ham’s Ark Encounter Park is failing, so the organization sold it to themselves… for $10 to avoid the taxes. They are avoiding a $0.50 per ticket tax intended for city expenses such as firetrucks and police cars.
They are claiming that they should be exempt because they are running a non-profit church ministry. However, they have been running the attraction as a for-profit business since it opened.
The city leaders are now bracing themselves for a lawsuit. The team has sold the land that the Ark sits on for a whopping $10. The Lexington Herald-Leader reports:
“… Ark Encounter LLC sold its main parcel of land — the one with the life-size Noah’s Ark — for $10 to their non-profit affiliate, Crosswater Canyon. Although the property is worth $48 million according to the Grant County Property Valuation Administrator, the deed says its value is only $18.5 million.”
“That’s the latest salvo in an escalating argument between local officials and Ark Encounter, but some are worried Ark Encounter’s maneuver is a precursor to declaring itself exempt from all taxes, including property taxes that help fund Grant County schools.”
They are basically confessing that they are a for-profit business because they sold the land to the non-profit that runs the attraction. This is incredibly illegal and unethical and confusing.
They are completely screwing the city out of future tax revenue after the city gave them tons of tax breaks when they were building it and other tax breaks that will last for the next few decades! How does Ham pay them back? Well, he restricted the jobs to his anti-gay Creationist buddies. They promised that they would be creating jobs for the whole city when they built the stupid Ark.
They claimed to be a for-profit LLC while the Ark was being built to qualify for the tax breaks and municipal assistance, but now they want to be a Ministry? Ken Ham is a shady piece of shit.
https://youtu.be/zIgVUthj8_g
Featured image via Twitter.
