Churches exempt from property tax

[jgh7]

Why are they exempt from property tax? I take the stance that they shouldn't. Why should they be allowed this special privilege?

[bluethread]

Why are they exempt from property tax? I take the stance that they shouldn't. Why should they be allowed this special privilege?

Because a majority of the electorate demands it, the legislature supports it, the judiciary finds it constitutional and the administrative branch does not choose to exact it in violation of the law. Why is anything in the tax code? As my tax accounting professor used to say, "Don't try to make sense of it, it's the tax code."

[jgh7]

[Replying to post 2 by bluethread]

What kind of an answer is that? Yeah, I get it, the government supports it for some reason. But brushing this off as if it's something not meant to make sense is unnaceptable.

[Hamsaka]

Why are they exempt from property tax? I take the stance that they shouldn't. Why should they be allowed this special privilege?

From Justia: http://law.justia.com/constitution/us/a ... perty.html

Using the secular purpose and effect test, Chief Justice Burger noted that the purpose of the exemption was not to single out churches for special favor; instead, the exemption applied to a broad category of associations having many common features and all dedicated to social betterment. Thus, churches as well as museums, hospitals, libraries, charitable organizations, professional associations, and the like, all non-profit, and all having a beneficial and stabilizing influence in community life, were to be encouraged by being treated specially in the tax laws. The primary effect of the exemptions was not to aid religion; the primary effect was secular and any assistance to religion was merely incidental.

Not just churches have tax exempt status available, but it has been in the news recently, mainly in anti-religious rants and like anything else in life, there are kernels of truth in there. Sure the tax exempt status has been taken advantage of by religious organizations. And so-called 'charities' or professional associations, them too. It comes up in the news regularly.

Organizations dedicated to social betterment are good things to have exempt from taxes -- it makes more resources available to those who need them. There is hanky panky going on, and it needs to be rooted out. There's no reason not to focus on religious groups publicly to account for themselves, in spite of religionist's huffing and puffing and thinking blasphemy! . But to be fair, churches really are not singled out for 'special treatment', in spite of the rhetoric and propaganda. At least they aren't in my personal assessment. I'm always open for more information.

[jgh7]

[Replying to Hamsaka]

Okay, so the church is classified as being for social betterment and therefore gets a property tax exemption. I guess the reasoning is that it couldn't survive otherwise if it did get a property tax?

I have two issues with this. Firstly where is the distinction drawn for what classifies as social betterment? A tennis club is not classified in such a way even though it promotes positive social activities. Why does the church get a special distinction?

Secondly, I believe churches could survive just fine even if they did get a property tax. Maybe they would actually have to charge something for services, but oh well, let them charge and see if they survive.

[Hamsaka]

[Replying to Hamsaka]

Okay, so the church is classified as being for social betterment and therefore gets a property tax exemption. I guess the reasoning is that it couldn't survive otherwise if it did get a property tax?

I can see a few other reasons, but I don't think churches are tax exempt because they couldn't survive financially otherwise. If anything that is probably a very minor reason with the more important reasons being that tax exempt status frees up more funds for charitable goals.

Also, being tax exempt is a kind of reward for doing charitable work, it encourages the development of charitable organizations (within guidelines).

I have two issues with this. Firstly where is the distinction drawn for what classifies as social betterment? A tennis club is not classified in such a way even though it promotes positive social activities. Why does the church get a special distinction?

This is a matter of doing a bit of internet research, where you can find the regulations and laws and all that used to define 'social betterment'. That Justia link might be a good place to start, or just search terms in the address bar.

You won't find very accurate answers searching anti or pro religion sites, just propaganda and spin.

Secondly, I believe churches could survive just fine even if they did get a property tax. Maybe they would actually have to charge something for services, but oh well, let them charge and see if they survive.

Sure, why not? Once you get a grasp on the ins and outs of tax exemptions in the context of charitable organizations, you may have a raft of different thoughts and questions. But first, why remove the church's tax exempt status?

Most persons of honesty and integrity would agree such benefits be removed when the organization does not measure up to lawful requirements. I'm one of them. I am just not familiar with significantly important reasons to remove the benefit from churches, but I'd be interested to hear what others believe are good reasons.

[bluethread]

[Replying to post 2 by bluethread]

What kind of an answer is that? Yeah, I get it, the government supports it for some reason. But brushing this off as if it's something not meant to make sense is unnaceptable.

I gather you have never worked with the tax code. Whether you want to accept it or not those are the reasons. Speculating that churches could not survive, if they were taxed, is just that, speculation. Those who support and oppose the exemption have various such justifications for their positions. However, the tax code is riddled with all kinds of rules and regulations, many of which are merely designed to buy votes and others to reward key constituents. So, we can argue about whether a particular exemption should or should not be allowed until the cows come home, but the bottom line is that it is in there because of the reasons I listed. Also, without a change in those factors, there is not going to be a change in the code regardless of how reasonable it is to do so.