Tax Exemption In America

According to the IRS, a religious institution with distinct legal existence and other loosely described attributes is considered a “church”. This term (though often paired with Christian institutions) is inclusive of all beliefs and religions in the context of the IRS tax code. Legally recognized churches enjoy a government perk that is unheard of for all other institutions: a complete tax exempt status. This means that churches do not have to pay any taxes on their income or their property. This tax code is unfair at its core, and has been made even more damaging by the abuse of the system by financially minded groups that attain church status solely for the economic benefit. The tax exempt status of churches has a detrimental effect on American

The problem with this idea is that churches do not have to provide social programs to receive their tax exemption, so many of them do not. It is unfair that non-profit organizations (which are often more beneficial to society) only enjoy a partial tax exemption. The only fair law would be to strip churches of their tax exempt status and make them register as non-profit organizations. This would end the special financial treatment towards religious institutions and give churches an incentive to help their

The government has put “God” on its currency and in The Pledge of Allegiance, but the most obvious display of government preference of believers over non-believers is in its tax code. This preferential taxing has been condemned by author, Mark Twain, who wrote, “no church property is taxed and so the infidel and the atheist and the man without religion are taxed to make up the deficit in the public income thus caused”. The current tax code impedes separation of church and state by forcing unwilling individuals to indirectly support religion. Associate Justice of the Supreme Court William Douglas has even called the current system “unconstitutional”, stating that, “A believer and nonbeliever under the present law are treated differently because of the articles of their faith… I conclude that this tax exemption is unconstitutional”. Non-believers are a minority in this country, but that does not mean that the government has any right to treat them differently. As long as churches remain tax exempt, non-believers will remain subject to the the tyranny of the