Pay Their Fair Share? Churches?
Some are saying churches should no longer be tax exempt because they need to pay their fair share. (Usually this is with a picture of a megachurch and a celebrity Pastors mansion)
Yet, 85% of churches are small churches under 200 people in America (95% are under 800 people), and 35% are bivocational meaning they work a full time job outside of the church to support their families.
Churches make a difference in their community by the many ministries which support people, and all for free to the public while on a lean budget. How does taxing the small churches help anyone?
This idea is not to tax churches and religious organizations but to see them like a business which they are not, and there is no surer way to destroy the free exercise of religion than to tax it. Taxing churches breaks down the healthy separation of church and state and leads to the destruction of the free exercise of religion.