Let's pretend Jesus is real

[Maggot]

What's fucking crazy to me is the fact that religious organizations don't pay a dime in taxes.

The government allows them to maintain tax-free status even though the larger religious organizations rake in tons of money from their followers; it's big business.

Plus, religious organizations are exempt from sales taxes on their purchases. They're exempt from property taxes. They're exempt from capital gains tax when they sell off assets.

Priests, ministers, rabbis and the like get "parsonage exemptions" in the U.S. too. That means that they're able to 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.

So, they take in billions of dollars a year and aren't required to contribute a piece of it to provide for the whole of society like other businesses and individuals.

I've always believed religious businesses should be subject to the same taxes as other businesses. But, some politicians and administrations benefit immensely from religions that help control people's thoughts and behavior. Religious organizations also deliver large voter blocks to those politicians and administrations who court them. So, unfortunately, I don't think U.S. religions will lose their tax-exempt status anytime soon, if ever.

I might agree if colleges were subject to the same taxes. Quite a few colleges are tax exempt and are constantly building new profit creating buildings, buying land to increase their ability to grow bigger. Soon they are able to become separate communities that do not give back monetarily to the communities that contain them. SNHU is a good example. Their bureaucracy continues to grow with plenty of 200,000 tier administrative jobs created every week it seems and still they are considered non-profit.

The same mentality you use with religion could be used towards upper education which last time I looked has put more people in the poorhouse, more so than any religion or religious affiliated school.