Religion, taxes, and policy

[Boozy]

The reason churches do not pay taxes is because of the separation of church and state. Charity work is nice, but has nothing to do with it from a constitutional standpoint (although I expect it makes the idea more palatable to the public). The idea is that religion doesn't get involved in government and government doesn't get involved with religion.

Of course, everyone knows that many churches are highly involved in politics, but still don't pay a dime in taxes. As far as I'm concerned, they can't have their cake and eat it too. They should get the hell out of government or pay for the privilege.

[CancelMyService]

Churches that have million dollar profits should have some sort of windfall tax, since obviously they aren't doing the charity thing too well. Same with non-profit companies like UPMC, which is the big healthcare company in Pittsburgh. Part of the reason the city is in such bad financial shape is that they own huge chunks of city land and pay zero taxes on it despite being a billion dollar company.

[protege]

But, then you have the "Mega-Churches." I was flipping through Businessweek at work last night, and was reading about them. There's one, I think in Texas somewhere, that brings in *millions* each year, yet doesn't pay taxes on either that, or their lavish facilities, nor do they help out the community. I don't know if they're all like that but, aren't these supposed to be charitable organizations? Why not practice what they preach, and send some of that wealth to some of the smaller churches?

Compare that with my grandmother's church. It's been around well over 150 years...and does plenty of charity. They have a soup kitchen, mentoring programs, and other community assistance programs. The majority of the money received each week goes back into those programs. Whatever is left goes into maintenance and repairs.

[Sylvia727]

I always thought that it was because until relatively recently, the vast majority of charity was through religious institutions. Churchs, their staff, and their parishoners ran the soup kitchens, the orphanages, the hospitals, the schools, etc. If one wanted to donate time or money to charity, one went to one's local church.

Now that there are alternative options, maybe tax laws will change. I can't see a change to the status quo going over well, though.

[Greenday]

The reason they don't pay taxes is because apparently the church has no say in what the government does. While some of us know this is a complete load of crap, we just don't waste our time doing much about it because there's really not much we can do. It's too easy for politicians to deny that their reasoning behind certain laws are religion. And since churches generally help people and don't cause trouble, people turn a blind eye to them.

[Rapscallion]

I got thinking recently about religion, the state, and taxes.

In the US, at least, and possibly even the UK (can't be bothered looking it up) and other countries, religious institutions don't pay taxes.

Religions exist to tell others how to behave (if this is good or bad is fuel for another thread), even telling governments what they should be doing.

So, no taxation without representation. Does that mean without taxation there should be no representation? Should we tax churches above a certain income level? Should only tax-paying religious institutions get a say? Surely a large group of people speaking as one voice should be heard?

Go for it!

Rapscallion