Religions Subsidized by more than 71 Billion a Year

Actually it's more than 71 billion but read on.

. Matt Yglesias thinks we ought to start taxing churches. “Whichever faith you think is the one true faith, it’s undeniable that the majority of this church-spending is going to support false doctrines,” he notes. Even if you did direct the money toward the one true faith, it’d still be a bad idea, as “Upgrading a church’s physical plant doesn’t enhance the soul-saving capacity of its clergy.”

This is Joel Osteen. You helped pay for his house. (The Washington Post)
Regardless of whether you buy Yglesias’s logic, this raises an interesting question — exactly how much money are we talking about here? If, all of a sudden, churches, synagogues, mosques and the like lost their tax privileges, how much tax revenue would that generate?

Ryan T. Cragun, a sociologist at the University of Tampa, and two of his students, Stephanie Yeager and Desmond Vega, took it upon themselves to figure it out. They’re not exactly disinterested parties; their research appeared in Free Inquiry, a publication of the Council for Secular Humanism. But Cragun is a serious sociologist of religion and the data seems to check out. The full scale of subsidies religions get is pretty staggering:

When people donate to religious groups, it’s tax-deductible. Churches don’t pay property taxes on their land or buildings. When they buy stuff, they don’t pay sales taxes. When they sell stuff at a profit, they don’t pay capital gains tax. If they spend less than they take in, they don’t pay corporate income taxes. Priests, ministers, rabbis and the like get “parsonage exemptions” that let them deduct mortgage payments, rent and other living expenses when they’re doing their income taxes. They also are the only group allowed to opt out of Social Security taxes (and benefits).


Cragun et al estimate the total subsidy at $71 billion. That’s almost certainly a lowball, as they didn’t estimate the cost of a number of subsidies, like local income and property tax exemptions, the sales tax exemption, and — most importantly — the charitable deduction for religious given. Their estimate that religious groups own $600 billion in property is also probably low, since it leaves out property besides actual churches, mosques, etc. .

Link

With that much money going to religious institutions I feel as though we shouldn't have such a homeless problem children shouldn't be going hungry but they are and there is. I have had many conversations with theists where inevitably it turns to how much good their church/religion does but in my eyes they do very little compared to what could be done. I was just noticing today how many megalithic churches are around me and how extravagent they are.

I think some of the philosophies in religion are great but I never seem to see them put in practice. Just makes me wonder how many people could be helped with all those billions instead of going to some fancy stained glass or vaulted ceilings.

reply to post by Grimpachi


What an outrage. Surely that money would be better spent on military hardware, corporate subsidies, and yachts for the super rich. Think of all the money those bastards waste on sandwiches and blankets for the homeless when they could be taxed instead and that money could help further inflate 16 trillion in national debt. What we need is LESS soup kitchens and MORE banker bailouts.

The nerve of some people.

reply to post by DeadSeraph


Honestly what I was saying is we need more soup kitchens and blankets and less megalithic temples of extravagance but I guess I wasn't clear to you.

DeadSeraph
reply to post by Grimpachi

 

What an outrage. Surely that money would be better spent on military hardware, corporate subsidies, and yachts for the super rich. Think of all the money those bastards waste on sandwiches and blankets for the homeless when they could be taxed instead and that money could help further inflate 16 trillion in national debt. What we need is LESS soup kitchens and MORE banker bailouts.

The nerve of some people.

Why do they get tax breaks? If they are making money tax them on it.
It sure is a tidy scam this religion lark isn't it?.

reply to post by Grimpachi


Megalithic temples are just as much an affront to God and to good people as they are to you. That doesn't mean that religious organizations don't do good work. Just because you only see one side of it doesn't mean there isn't another side to be seen.

Have you ever belonged to a church community? Have you ever volunteered for one? I was a member of a very good church. While they had a very large building to house their ever growing congregation, they made sure they spent every penny with accountability. They volunteered at homeless shelters, gave gift cards for grocery stores to poor struggling families, and did missionary work abroad building houses, schools, and wells for poverty stricken communities. Without the tax breaks good religious institutions might not be able to do that kind of work (or at least as much of it).

I personally detest the practice of some churches. Preachers driving five hundred thousand dollar sports cars and living in the lap of luxury with pimped out churches. Those are all resources that could be better spent helping the poor as Christians are commanded to do. But there are many many churches, mosques, and synagogues that do amazing work helping the less fortunate. I would say they are in the majority.

So just because you don't see that work being done personally, doesn't mean it isn't happening. If you dislike the way some churches spend their money, maybe you should join one and volunteer your time and your efforts and help them do things the way you think they should be done?

you seem to think churches are super wealthy, with money to burn. while i am sure there are some that have money, my experience is that most don't. most churches barely scrape by, a state where that "leaky roof" may leak for a couple years while waiting for the cash needed to fix it.

the job situation in the states the last several years has made this "barely scraping by" even worse, since many church members don't have enough to live on let alone "give to the church". one church i know has not only been struggling to get by, but has been running near constant "food drives", just to try to help feed all those in the congregation that ended up out of work (they had well over 50% of their membership loose their jobs within a few months). hard to "feed the hungry" and needy in the community, when you are hard put just to feed your members.

reply to post by DeadSeraph


I do volunteer and donate just not with religous institutions. You can still help your fellow man without giving a sermon. BTW I never said religouse institutions don't do some good things I am just saying for 71 billion they don't do nearly enough.

reply to post by DeadSeraph


Or helping the poor and unfortunate among you.

Like Christ would have done and urged done.

DeadSeraph
reply to post by Grimpachi

 

What an outrage. Surely that money would be better spent on military hardware, corporate subsidies, and yachts for the super rich. Think of all the money those bastards waste on sandwiches and blankets for the homeless when they could be taxed instead and that money could help further inflate 16 trillion in national debt. What we need is LESS soup kitchens and MORE banker bailouts.

The nerve of some people.

Your point is well made, and was made by another member in a thread similar to this one a while back. The problem is, the lions share of money being donated to the church, and being handed out to the church in subsidies, isn't being spent on those who need it most. It's lining the pockets of the mega rich con men, who call themselves servants of God. As well as being used to build enormous churches, fancy office biildings, and "Christian" schools. Among other things. What's more, is that it also happens on the lower end of the spectrum of independent churches one might not normally consider a wealthy church.

My point being, what you're saying sounds good, but it doesn't stand up to scrutiny.

reply to post by Grimpachi


There was a topic similar to this that is still active: www.abovetopsecret.com...

Either way I will state what I did before. Just because something isn't taxed doesn't mean it is subsidized. For the aid churches do receive to help the poor etc. in programs there are usually stipulations.

The answer to American problems is not to tax churches but to stop taxing people. It has never been legal and has been a scam from the start. People VOLUNTARILY give their money to churches. There is no reason for them to be taxed, again. People already get taxed on their income, how they choose to give their money to their beliefs is their choice; It is in their constitutional right to do so. Of course laws for years have added more and more taxes on anything you can imagine, to further chip the net spending power away from the everyday man.

Either way I am tired of these nonsense topics. Why not make one about all of the taxes that keep getting created year after year on everything freakin' thing you can think of? How 10 dollars of income becomes 1 when you take into account all of the fees, registrations, taxes, permits, and other nonsense that eats at every single aspect of our everyday lives.

reply to post by OrphanApology


You are free to start a thread on any topic you like. You are also free to read this one or not. However if you disagree with my thread that is fine but please refrain from trying to tell me what kind of threads I should write if you aren't willing to write them yourself I see no reason why I should write them for you.

BTW I don't see why we should tax people who give to religious institions either but that is different from taxing the religious institutions who are receiving those monies. Link

.

June 11, 2013
In a surprising move, Christian conservative and Republican leader Mike Huckabee is encouraging churches to give up their tax exempt status. Huckabee issued the following call for churches to unilaterally give up their tax-exempt status via Twitter on June 11: