> The state is giving them special treatment.
No it's not. All non-profits are untaxed. If you are going to charge churches, then charge all non-profits.
Personally I think that's a bad policy.
No it's not. All non-profits are untaxed. If you are going to charge churches, then charge all non-profits.
Personally I think that's a bad policy.
I don't think religious institutions have to pay property taxes.
Ok, I looked it up: “states subsidize religions to the tune of about $26.2 billion per year by not requiring religious institutions to pay property taxes for property worth about $600 billion. This subsidy is of particular interest because property taxes pay for services such as firefighting and police, which religious institutions use the same as corporations and private citizens.”
No, non-profits do not have to pay property tax.
So by that measure states also subsidize non-profits. And your math does not take into account the amount of services religions provide residents.
If you went by the internet religions do nothing except take money, but if you visit the real world, religions are the backbone of social services in the US.
That really depends on the denomination.
Sure, there are pastors of evangelical megachurches flying around in private jets.
On the other hand, other religious groups often have quite poorly paid clergy. I remembering hearing about an Eastern Orthodox parish, where after paying for the building, utilities, etc, the parish didn't have any money left to pay the priest. So he is working a full-time secular job, his wife works part-time (as well as looking after the kids), and the priest does all his religious duties after work and on weekends. (The plan was to convert enough people to Eastern Orthodoxy that the parish could fund the priest's salary and he could quit his secular job; hasn't happened yet, who knows if it ever will.)
One of my former work colleagues was a Protestant minister. His church was too poor to pay him anything. He worked for Oracle during the week, and ran church services for free on the weekend.
A lot of religious denominations are struggling with ageing congregations and declining membership. Even if there is sometimes still a lot of money at headquarters, when you get to the periphery of shrinking local congregations things are often very frugal.
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