Saw the Blues Brothers movie the other night…for the one million and sixth time! :rolleyes: :smack:
My question is, wasn’t the plot flawed from the beginning? Since when do churches pay taxes?
They don’t. But at the time of the writing of the movie, it is claimed that a law was under consideration in Illinois that would tax church owned property. It was never enacted, but the debate over this proposed law may have influenced the writers.
I haven’t seen the film in ages, but wasn’t it an orphanage that was being threatened with foreclosure? It was run by nuns, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the orphanage itself was tax-exempt. IIRC churches aren’t exempt from taxation because they’re “churches.” They’re exempt because they are set up as not-for-profit organizations.
Illinois, levied a special tax on churches in anticipation of having to pay for all those cop cars. 
I thought that fact just added an underlayment of irony to the whole quixotic mess.
<— obligatory Blues Brothers shades.