# Churches and taxes: just how did it turn out this way? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 6, 2008, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churches-and-taxes-just-how-did-it-turn-out-this-way/455415 "2008-07-06T00:25:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kuboydal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@Kuboydal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuboydal)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2008, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churches-and-taxes-just-how-did-it-turn-out-this-way/455415/1 "2008-07-06T00:25:41Z")
I’ve always wondered a bit about the tax exemption for religious organizations. I don’t mean to ruffle any theological feathers here, but one would assume that a free and fair society would hold these organizations to the same responsibilities as any other industry. While I really don’t mind that such a large percentage of people in the ole Estados Unis participate in this pursuit, would it not be more fair to treat the property holdings of such organizations as one would volleyball clubs and knitting societies? Furthermore, what is the precedent for the tax free status and is this common in countries worldwide? If this has been discussed before would someone throw me a link? ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2008, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churches-and-taxes-just-how-did-it-turn-out-this-way/455415/2 "2008-07-06T00:36:09Z")
Constantine made the church tax exempt in Rome. ---
**Author:** ![Kuboydal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@Kuboydal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuboydal)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2008, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churches-and-taxes-just-how-did-it-turn-out-this-way/455415/3 "2008-07-06T00:39:59Z")
Please forgive the blank spot in my brain, which Constantine would that be? Ye olde Wiki has a slew of likely candidates. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2008, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churches-and-taxes-just-how-did-it-turn-out-this-way/455415/4 "2008-07-06T00:47:18Z")
[QUOTE=Kuboydal] If this has been discussed before would someone throw me a link? [/QUOTE] Here are a few. From General Questions: [Churches, Taxes, and the IRS](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=343825) And from Great Debates: [What taxes SHOULD churches pay?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=433038) [Should churches be tax-exempt?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=343951) ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2008, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churches-and-taxes-just-how-did-it-turn-out-this-way/455415/5 "2008-07-06T00:51:08Z")
[QUOTE=Kuboydal] Please forgive the blank spot in my brain, which Constantine would that be? Ye olde Wiki has a slew of likely candidates. [/QUOTE] It’s not the one who was on American Idol a few seasons back. Constantine was the Emperor of Rome in the early 300 AD’s and made raised Catholicism to become the de facto official religion of the Roman Empire after the Council of Nicea in AD 325. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2008, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churches-and-taxes-just-how-did-it-turn-out-this-way/455415/6 "2008-07-06T00:54:04Z")
[QUOTE=Kuboydal] Please forgive the blank spot in my brain, which Constantine would that be? Ye olde Wiki has a slew of likely candidates. [/QUOTE] [The famous one](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_I_(emperor)) ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2008, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churches-and-taxes-just-how-did-it-turn-out-this-way/455415/7 "2008-07-06T01:13:08Z")
Aren’t most non-profits tax exempt? ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2008, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churches-and-taxes-just-how-did-it-turn-out-this-way/455415/8 "2008-07-06T01:29:35Z")
[QUOTE=Lamar Mundane] Constantine was the Emperor of Rome in the early 300 AD’s and made raised Catholicism to become the de facto official religion of the Roman Empire after the Council of Nicea in AD 325. [/QUOTE] Christianity, not Catholicism. Catholicism per se did not exist until the Reformation. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2008, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churches-and-taxes-just-how-did-it-turn-out-this-way/455415/9 "2008-07-06T01:32:38Z")
[QUOTE=Simplicio] Aren’t most non-profits tax exempt? [/QUOTE] Right. And according to the [Supreme Court](http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment01/04.html): > [@](#): > > …[T]he purpose of the exemption was not to single out churches for special favor; instead, the exemption applied to a broad category of associations having many common features and all dedicated to social betterment. Thus, churches as well as museums, hospitals, libraries, charitable organizations, professional associations, and the like, all non-profit, and all having a beneficial and stabilizing influence in community life, were to be encouraged by being treated specially in the tax laws. The primary effect of the exemptions was not to aid religion; the primary effect was secular and any assistance to religion was merely incidental. ---
**Author:** ![Kuboydal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@Kuboydal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuboydal)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2008, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churches-and-taxes-just-how-did-it-turn-out-this-way/455415/10 "2008-07-06T02:35:09Z")
Gracias for all of the links. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2008, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churches-and-taxes-just-how-did-it-turn-out-this-way/455415/11 "2008-07-06T04:45:04Z")
[QUOTE=BrotherCadfael] Christianity, not Catholicism. Catholicism per se did not exist until the Reformation. [/QUOTE] Wouldn’t all the medieval popes beg to differ with you? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2008, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churches-and-taxes-just-how-did-it-turn-out-this-way/455415/12 "2008-07-06T05:40:04Z")
[QUOTE=Simplicio] Aren’t most non-profits tax exempt? [/QUOTE] Right. Churches are almost all non-profits so they’d be exempt from Federal Taxes anyway. Now, I am not sure about Property Tax? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2008, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churches-and-taxes-just-how-did-it-turn-out-this-way/455415/13 "2008-07-06T05:46:54Z")
[QUOTE=DrDeth] Right. Churches are almost all non-profits so they’d be exempt from Federal Taxes anyway. Now, I am not sure about Property Tax? 😕 [/QUOTE] I believe that most local governments follow the IRS’s lead when determining who gets exempted by virtue of being a non-profit (that’s how it works in my town anyways), through there may be exceptions. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2008, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churches-and-taxes-just-how-did-it-turn-out-this-way/455415/14 "2008-07-06T14:40:12Z")
[QUOTE=Simplicio] I believe that most local governments follow the IRS’s lead when determining who gets exempted by virtue of being a non-profit (that’s how it works in my town anyways), through there may be exceptions. [/QUOTE] Alaska exempts property taxes not only for the churches, but for the clergys’ houses and for the houses of those that teach in the church schools. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2008, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churches-and-taxes-just-how-did-it-turn-out-this-way/455415/15 "2008-07-06T15:00:07Z")
[QUOTE=BrotherCadfael] Christianity, not Catholicism. Catholicism per se did not exist until the Reformation. [/QUOTE] You misspelled Schism?