Fort Worth - A northern Texas tax appraisal district has agreed to exempt the $3.3 million jet owned by Kenneth Copeland Ministries from property taxes.
The Tarrant Appraisal District's concession is at the heart of a settlement reached with the Newark-based television evangelist's ministry last week. KTVT-TV of Fort Worth and Dallas reports the district also agreed to drop its requirement of salary information on the ministries' directors.
In December 2008, a district board ruled the ministry's jet lacked tax-exempt status. It also denied a protest from Copeland's attorneys because the ministry refused to release salaries of directors, including Copeland and his wife.
Copeland's ministry is based on a 1,500-acre campus behind an iron gate on Eagle Mountain Lake, about 40 miles northwest of Dallas. It includes a church, airstrip, hangar for its aircraft and a $6 million lakefront mansion.
