RE: Trump vows to destroy the law limiting churches' political activity
February 5, 2017 at 6:03 pm
(February 5, 2017 at 5:47 pm)Redoubtable Wrote: It might be an unpopular stance here, but I think religious congregations should be able to engage in political activism as an exercise of free speech AS LONG AS religious congregations are open to losing their various tax exempt statuses.
The tax exemption that annoys me the most is the property tax exemption, which to me is the least justifiable of any of the various exemptions religious congregations enjoy in America. In my town, huge swaths of land are owned by religious congregations, the clergy often live on site, and yet they pay no property taxes despite benefiting from the services the town provides such as garbage and recycling collection, police and fire departments.
That's the whole nub of the gist, really. As I understand it, churches do not engage in political activism specifically because of their tax exempt status.
Boru
‘I can’t be having with this.’ - Esmeralda Weatherwax