Re: Should churches be tax exempt? Poll
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Mark me down for 'They operate (and lobby) as a business and should be taxed as such.'
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The same could be said of all non-profits. We should not discriminate against churches. If you want to tax Arts, social service, unions, and all other non-profits, then ok. But churches are legitimate non-profits and selective taxation of non-profits is politically motivated.
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To treat churches like those other non-profits is to assume that they are providing a valuable service to the community, which I do not automatically assume of every church (because I used to be a churchgoer, and there are some really stingy, greedy, horrible churches out there). I think, as I do with many things, that a case-by-case determination ought to be made. Prove that you're providing a valuable community service that goes beyond having a building where you read the Bible. Churches that provide after-school care, shelter for the poor, community basketball for teens, drug counseling services, charity for third-world AIDS victims, etc...realistically those should be given non-profit tax-exempt status. Other churches, that take money from their members and build lavish buildings and buy planes, etc. (like Benny Hinn and some of the other shady mega-organizations) and provide little or no value percentage-wise to their communities...should be treated like what they, in fact are...businesses...and thus should be taxed.
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