If religious organizations were taxed

[DemPGH]

They should be because they're indistinguishable from businesses and they seek to enter the public domain and public discourse every bit as much as businesses. As soon as they do that, they are eligible to lose tax exempt status. I think when you look at the mega-churches, the Catholic Church, the large mainstream churches, you could do quite a bit with that money. I would put it toward healthcare, like helping to fund single payer. But that's not the answer alone as we need to reduce the overall defense and military budgeting by a lot as well.

[DemPGH]

They're not considered non-profits. They can be considered non-profits if they fulfill certain criteria, but indeed the USA has laws that actually put churches and pastors in a favored, special category, which is outrageous. And look at the Catholic Church - they actually threaten people over the abortion issue. The main rule that protects churches is the "no electioneering" rule, but churches bust that all the time. It would make for a good lawsuit in a court that actually respects the Church / State separation.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1828.pdf

[DemPGH]

If they actually are non-profits, that should change, then.

If you taxed churches, wouldn't you have to tax all non-profit institutions? The reason churches are tax-exempt isn't because they're religious organizations, it's because they meet the definition of non-profit organizations under IRS rules.

I agree but disagree. Catholic Church, Protestant churches, etc should not be taxed but cults like scientology or jeovah witnesses should be taxed (well their not legit).

But if you think that you're ingesting the body and blood of a 2,000 year-old deity infused into wine and a bread product . . . ?? Ehhhh. What constitutes "cult behavior" is a very good question! Especially when boatloads of money are being made.