Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Abolish Tax Exemptions For Religious Institutions

I'll keep this post short and sweet. If churches, regardless of perspective want to get in the game of politics, then churches need to lose every tax exemption that is currently in place. It is offensive to me to know that many, particularly conservative, church leaders conflate their personal political positions with what they interpret as the word of God, thus suggesting to their congregations that, say, voting Republican is akin to voting the way God would. The whole purpose of the exemption, if I am recalling it correctly, was to protect churches from the whims of the secular and political worlds, as well as to offer somewhat neutral territory.

Besides, we need the tax revenue.

2 comments:

John said...

I completely agree, but I would suggest taking it a step further - abolish all religious institutions! Seriously, getting rid of the tax exemptions would be a good place to start....

Anonymous said...

CHURCHS NEED TO PAY TAXES!! Why should any group get occupy land and enjoy the community services without paying?

Should they be taxed like a business? No.

They should be taxed like a home, the average home in the community.

That will be a nominal amount for most real churches who aren't renting their space, and will deter the "enterprising folks" who suddenly turn their homes into churches (it happens!), as they'd see little to no financial benefit from trying to claim they are a church.

I'm just sayin'...