Prepare for a full spit-spewing denial from the left.   
      
      
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   http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67Q5BW20100827   
      
   Ground Zero Muslim center may get public financing   
      
   (Reuters) - The Muslim center planned near the site of the World Trade    
   Center attack could qualify for tax-free financing, a spokesman for City    
   Comptroller John Liu said on Friday, and Liu is willing to consider    
   approving the public subsidy.   
      
   The Democratic comptroller's spokesman, Scott Sieber, said Liu supported    
   the project. The center has sparked an intense debate over U.S.    
   religious freedoms and the sanctity of the Trade Center site, where    
   nearly 3,000 perished in the September 11, 2001 attack.   
      
   "If it turns out to be financially feasible and if they can demonstrate    
   an ability to pay off the bonds and comply with the laws concerning tax-   
   exempt financing, we'd certainly consider it," Sieber told Reuters.   
      
   Spokesmen for Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Governor David Paterson and the    
   Islamic center and were not immediately available.   
      
   The proposed center, two blocks from the Trade Center site in lower    
   Manhattan, has caused a split between people who lost relatives and    
   friends in the attack, as well as conservative politicians, and those    
   who support the project. Among those who support it are the mayor, civic    
   and religious groups, and some families of victims.   
      
   The mosque's backers hope to raise a total of $70 million in tax-exempt    
   debt to build the center, according to the New York Times. Tax laws    
   allow such funding for religiously affiliated non-profits if they can    
   prove the facility will benefit the general public and their religious    
   activities are funded separately.   
      
   The bonds could be issued through a local development corporation    
   created for this purpose, experts said.   
      
   The Islamic center would have to repay the bonds, which likely would be    
   less expensive than taxable debt.   
      
   New York City's Industrial Development Authority could not issue debt    
   for the center because the state civic facilities law, which governed    
   this type of financing for non-profits, was allowed to expire about two    
   years ago.   
      
   (Reporting by Joan Gralla; Editing by Dan Grebler)   
      
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