When people donate to religious groups, it’s tax-deductible. Churches don’t pay property taxes on their land or buildings. When they buy stuff, they don’t pay sales taxes. When they sell stuff at a profit, they don’t pay capital gains tax. If they spend less than they take in, they don’t pay corporate income taxes. Priests, ministers, rabbis and the like get “parsonage exemptions” that let them deduct mortgage payments, rent and other living expenses when they’re doing their income taxes. They also are the only group allowed to opt out of Social Security taxes (and benefits).
Many on the Right have tried to argue that America is a Christian nation…which only proves how little they know about American history. The truth is that this country was founded by Puritans fleeing what they felt to be religious persecution in England. The Founding Fathers built on that by creating a government beholden to no religion…and embedding that secularity in the Constitution. They recognized that commingling religion and politics was a recipe for tyranny. Today, one need only look at Iran or Pakistan to understand how state-sponsored (or mandated) religion is a disaster. So, why do we subsidize religion? Why are churches tax-exempt? Why are religious leaders allowed to deduct living expenses on their income taxes? And why are religious groups allowed to opt out of Social Security taxes and benefits?
It’s time that our tax code treated churches, religious groups, and their leaders like any other taxable entity. It turns out that subsidizing religion is a ridiculously expensive proposition, one that we gain nothing from. Whether you accept that the subsidies total $71 billion or $82.5 billion, the fact is that religion gets a free ride in this country, and all of us are paying the freight. Even worse, neither figure includes local income and property tax exemptions or charitable deductions, all of which adds additional billions more to the subsidies we provide churches and religious groups.
I ask why we subsidize religion knowing full well that there’s a snowball’s chance in Hell (pun fully intended) that Congress would ever have the courage to do the right thing. With Congresscritters falling all over themselves to demonstrate their piety and claim the imprimatur of the Almighty, there’s little impetus and even less upside for requiring churches and religious organizations to pay their own way. It would be a sensible way to address the budget deficit and restore sanity and fairness to the tax code, but legislators collectively lack the courage to stop subsidizing religion.
So much for the separation of Church and State, eh?
