Amid calls to #TaxTheChurches - what and how much do US religious organizations not pay the taxman?

[turbinetree]

By The Conversation
published August 12, 2021

The hashtag #TaxTheChurches began trending on Twitter in mid-July.

The spark was allegations about the wealth of celebrity pastor Joel Osteen. But it wasn't the first time that “tax the churches" has circulated. In fact it is slogan that long predates social media – Frank Zappa was singing it back in 1981 and Mark Twain expressed similar sentiments many decades before that.

As a sociologist of religion, I've long been interested in why religious institutions are exempt from certain taxes and what that means in potential lost revenue for the U.S. In 2012, I examined this issue and estimated that in total, churches in the U.S. get out of paying around US$71 billion in taxes annually.

https://www.rawstory.com/amid-calls-to-taxthechurches-what-and-how-much-do-us-religious-organizations-not-pay-the-taxman/

[jimfields33]

1. If they do that, they will add all non profits.

I am not sure why something it will stop there. Nothing ever does.

[Dr. Strange]

3. The Harvard Trust Fund has somewhere around 40 million dollars.

Imagine if we could tax that.

[jimfields33]

4. That would be awesome. Although, I'd rather some colleges start

Paying off some of these student loans that went to their schools.

[gratuitous]

2. You mean not every pastor or priest is living the Joel Osteen life?

And that in exchange for that exemption, thousands of church congregations across the country provide space for census taker training, minor political party meetings, Head Start, other congregations that don't have a building of their own, overnight homeless shelters, day centers for homeless persons and families, and rehearsal space for non-profit entertainment groups. All at no or low cost to the groups using the facility. Or maybe that's just my teeny, tiny congregation?

In addition, churches and their larger denominations have their ongoing projects. For example, the Church of the Brethren provides no-cost child care in areas hit by disaster, providing safe, trained, child care while the parents deal with the disaster relief agencies. Website here. Total it all up, and $71 billion looks like a pretty good bargain for the country.

[njhoneybadger]

5. That's not going to happen.

[multigraincracker]

6. I'd be happy if they just enforce the current law.

Take away their exemptions if they get into politics. Not asking for too much.

[Igel]

9. The law doesn't say "politics."

Obama was hosted by churches, nary a whimper.

Souls to the Polls is political. Meh.

They can't get involved in partisan politics, specifically supporting a candidate. Although by inviting specific candidates and in talking about the issues supported they often are partisan by proxy. Then again, so are the NAACP and environmental organizations, for that matter.

[Silent3]

7. I think there should be a single system of tax benefits for all charitable non-profits...

...which would all have to abide by the same rules to maintain their tax exemptions, with specifically religion getting a benefit that non-religious organizations can't get. Otherwise that makes religion more than a protected status, but a privileged status.

[Zeitghost]

8. How do you tax a church?

The normal slogan I hear is tax them like businesses. But businesses get taxed on profit. Non-profit organizations like churches, by definition, have no profit to tax and if they do engage in profit making activity, it gets taxed just like a normal business. Excess funds can not be distributed to ownership through dividends like a normal company would do with its profit, so if you did tax them on any revenue put into savings, they would simply spend it to raise expenses to match that period's revenues.

I'm open to the idea, I've just never heard a good plan that makes sense.


As for the rich mega-church grifters, err pastors, their income is taxable.

[twin_ghost]

10. The government can't tax religious institutions and the church can't be supported by the government.

The separation of church and state is enshrined in the first amendment. The government is allowed to tax property if the church has a parsonage on Church property.

https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/484/9/