FLDS in Canada pay their property taxes

Property taxes on property owned by the Fundamentalist LDS Church's financial arm have been paid in the polygamous enclave of Bountiful, British Columbia.

Bruce Wisan, a court-appointed special fiduciary for the United Effort Plan (UEP) Trust, said Thursday that all of the property owners paid their taxes — and then some.

"There's even a credit," he said. "We ended up over-assessing."

Wisan has also been pushing FLDS faithful to pay their property taxes on homes in the polygamous border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., or face the possibility of eviction.

Fugitive FLDS leader Warren Jeffs had issued an edict telling his followers not to pay the taxes. But so far, all of the property taxes have been paid in Hildale and now in Canada.

Wisan does not believe it's a change in the edict but more of a realization.

"It's less expensive to pay property taxes than to buy a new house," he said.

Jeffs, 50, is a fugitive on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list. He is charged in Utah and Arizona with sex crimes and is accused of forcing teenage girls into polygamous marriages with older men. A $100,000 reward is being offered for information leading to his arrest.