Pope Francis has come out and said that we need to end tax exempt statuses of churches and church buildings that don’t help the needy. He specifically mentioned religious institutions that are using loopholes to avoid paying taxes instead of trying to help the needy. He criticized religious institutions that are in the hospitality business and getting out of taxes by claiming they are doing “God’s work.”
In 2013, the Italian Church has started paying taxes on commercial church properties. They are still not paying taxes on buildings that contain chapels.
In America, taxing churches could generate around $85 million for the government.
Churches first received tax-exempt status in 1894. Donations to churches are also tax-deductible. Opponents say that taxing churches would violate the separation of church and state. Proponents say that tax-exempt statuses for churches violates the separation of church and state.
Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas had this to say in his dissenting opinion in the 1970 ruling Walz v. Tax Commission of the City of New York:
“If believers are entitled to public financial support, so are nonbelievers. A believer and nonbeliever under the present law are treated differently because of the articles of their faith… I conclude that this tax exemption is unconstitutional.”
Churches also get extra unfair special treatment from the IRS. Secular charities are forced to report their income and financial structure to the IRS. Churches are not only tax exempt, but they don’t even have to file a tax return.
This unfair system is forcing all Americans to support churches whether they want to or not. Mark Twain once argued:
“No church property is taxed and so the infidel and the atheist and the man without religion are taxed to make up the deficit in the public income thus caused.”
The tax code doesn’t even distinguish between real churches and fraudulent “faith” groups popping up. The pastors of these “mega-churches” are bringing in the big bucks and living in lavish mansions. This needs to stop. Churches need to start paying their fair share in taxes.
Featured image by Joshua Morley via flickr, available under Creative Commons 2.0 license.
