What rights do religions have from the state?

[Elessar]

In the United States, all not-inherently-political non-profit organizations are tax exempt, and all donations given to these organizations are tax deductible - 501(c)3 refers not only to religious organizations, as is often thought, but it simply gives tax exemption to any non-profit organization. However, 501(c)3 does not forbid political activity - only direct interference in election between candidates. Thus, the legality of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' campaigning in favor of Proposition 8 and retaining tax exemption. However, if a religious organization, either an individual church or an entire organization of them, endorsed one candidate over another in an election - and that's on *any* level of government from town councils to the U.S. President, they would then lose tax exemption.

 

[tomspug]

Tomspug, I am not well aware of USA regulations about non-profit organizations.

Are they usually tax-exempt? If so, on what grounds and under which restrictions?

Is there a compelling reason why a religion must have tax exemption?

Non-profit organization - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

After a recognized type of legal entity has been formed at the state level, it is customary for the nonprofit organization to seek tax exempt status with respect to its income tax obligations. That is typically done by applying to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), although statutory exemptions exist for limited types of nonprofit organizations. The IRS, after reviewing the application to ensure the organization meets the conditions to be recognized as a tax exempt organization (such as the purpose, limitations on spending, and internal safeguards for a charity), may issue an authorization letter to the nonprofit granting it tax exempt status for income tax payment, filing, and deductibility purposes. The exemption does not apply to other Federal taxes such as employment taxes. Additionally, a tax-exempt organization must pay federal tax on income that is unrelated to their exempt purpose.[9] Failure to maintain operations in conformity to the laws may result in an organization losing its tax exempt status.

I'm not sure if that last part means that churches pay taxes on the money used to pay its employees, but that might be true.

 

[tomspug]

They offer a service with commercial value. They sell identity, not unlike a Starbuck's these days. In the age of information, that tax-exempt status no longer makes much sense.

Oh brother... I'd love for you to define this "commercial value" in any way that isn't entirely ambiguous. Non-religious charitable entities are just as likely, if not more likely, than a church to be manipulative and greedy in their non-profit operations. All this wolf-in-a-suit bias is the exception, not the rule.

Let's just look at the PROFITABILITY of being a church for a second, since we are so interested in comparing it to a business. While the non-profit industry has an approximate value of $665 billion dollars and a rising market, the number of surviving churches is DROPPING. The average salary of a pastor is around $80,000/year, the same as a director for non-profits, so they seem to have an equal cash flow, right? Well, non-profits pay practically everyone that works for them. In a church, only the administrative, maintenance and clergy staff are paid. Almost the entirety of a church's operations are run on a volunteer basis. Every single project must be funded by donations and carried out by volunteers (maybe a staff-member, if the church can afford it). Never mind that fact that most churches require a pastor to have AT LEAST 8 years of biblical education under their belt, which would likely have cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars to obtain. Not a profitable venture for a greedy businessman, is it? Let's face it. It's way easier to make money forming a cult than a church.

And let's talk about COMMERCIALISM for a second. I've noticed that the "organic" trend has been replaced with the "cancer" trend as our new favorite method of selling merchandise and food products. "If you buy our product, you're saving people's lives, probably!" We aren't even encouraged to LEARN anything about non-profits anymore. We're simply obligated to blindly donate money to whichever brand Walmart is sponsoring at the time!

At least with churches, you know what they're selling. (Oh, and by the way, what percentage of church attendees are you assuming actually give money to the church they attend anyways?)

 

[Pah]

...

I'm not sure if that last part means that churches pay taxes on the money used to pay its employees, but that might be true.

It is concerned with the money the organization raises in order to operate.