religious institutions and property taxes

[Don Quixote]

why do we continue to exempt property owned by religious institutions from property taxes regardless of whether or not the properties are churches.

those missing taxes put holes in various local government needs/budgets. they use city/county services (like police and fire and others) but do not pay for them.

an example of abuse is catholic churches that are required to send portion of their income to the vatican. most religious institutions have an administrative overhead that they/we pay for via lost tax revenue.

 

[evince]

its really unfair to people like me

 

[Callinectes]

Oh yeah! Just do it!! Get rid of that pesky separation of church and state thing!

 

[evince]

we don't need to

 

[Don Quixote]

Oh yeah! Just do it!! Get rid of that pesky separation of church and state thing!

the separation of church and state (first amendment) has nothing to do with taxation. try reading it and you will notice that. by the way, church (or atheist) members that receive income from a 'recognized' religious institution (includes agnostic and atheist) have that income taxed.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press"

 

[anatta]

I think they should pay taxes on capital gains,but not contributions or inventory..
It's something we just carve out by tradition,and I have no real problem with it.

 

[PostmodernProphet]

why do we continue to exempt property owned by religious institutions from property taxes regardless of whether or not the properties are churches.

so you're after the Kingdom Halls and Christ Scientist Reading Rooms

 

[domer76]

why do we continue to exempt property owned by religious institutions from property taxes regardless of whether or not the properties are churches.

those missing taxes put holes in various local government needs/budgets. they use city/county services (like police and fire and others) but do not pay for them.

an example of abuse is catholic churches that are required to send portion of their income to the vatican. most religious institutions have an administrative overhead that they/we pay for via lost tax revenue.

Yep. Not only that, they are often the most prime property in the city