Let us hope the Legislature will read this series and end at least the tax abuses. Add to that the injustice of withholding tax funds needed for the state to provide services that the churches say should be a responsibility for all good followers: education, health care, safety and sanitation. Yet the huge acquisition of “worldly” wealth described in this series in itself represents clear contradiction with foundational spirituality. Christian scripture, for example, models repeatedly in lives and words: self-sacrifice, warnings about acquisition of possessions and preference for the poor. It is appalling and sad to read how, one after another, all over Texas and infecting almost every religion, congregants and their leaders are corrupting the very meaning of their beliefs. It should be no more complicated than that. When it was decreed that property owners should pay a real estate tax, then all owners should pay the tax, including state and federal government buildings, nonprofits, religious and educational institutions - everyone who gets to their property via a public street, is plugged into public water and sewer systems, and gets fire and police protection. I wonder why any parsonage regardless of acreage should be tax-free property? All church property should at least pay the taxes needed to provide police and fire protection.Ī dreadful habit we have in this country is to add all sorts of exceptions and exemptions every time we pass a law. It is now up to the county tax collectors to send tax bills to the dozens of parsonages that are in violation. The Texas Constitution says a tax-free parsonage cannot be more than one acre. How is that different from Home Depot? I used to be Hindu but am now atheist.Ĭheers to the Houston Chronicle and the investigative reporters who did the digging to reveal tax-free parsonages that violate qualifications in state law. Religion has a product to sell called faith, customers who attend services, marketing via proselytizing, revenues from collections and tithes, and expenses. Why should those who do not believe or care about a deity subsidize those who do? If the argument is religious organizations provide a public benefit, then the deductions should be limited to their charity work - not the day-to-day expenses. 9): The excellent Undue Burden series brings up a larger question - why do religious organizations receive any tax deductions at all? Giving a tax break to any religious organization favors religion over atheism, agnosticism or those in general who are not religiously inclined. Regarding “ Some Texas religious leaders live in lavish, tax-free estates thanks to obscure law,” (Dec. Ivan Pierre Aguirre, Freelance Photographer / Ivan Pierre Aguirre Selling faith This parsonage in El Paso, owned by the Nueva Iglesia Puerta del Cielo church, boasts 4,800 square feet and a swimming pool, according to appraisal records.
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