Tax Exemption
Now that I'm working in a church again I've started to think about this whole "tax exempt status" our churches have. Tax exemption doesn't really sit right with me. Here's why tax exemption makes me raise an eyebrow. I had a conversation with a pastor friend of mine several years ago about why he supported a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. In the end, the constitutional ban on same sex marriage had to do with tax exemption. That was his last straw. "You see," he said, "if they legalize gay marriage, they can force the church to start marrying gay people. And if we say no... they'll take away our tax exempt status!"
There's a big difference between the Christian rite of marriage performed by the church and that legal thing you get at the county courthouse, so I don't care too much about what's in the constitution concerning marriage, because the constitution does not determine the sacred rites of the church. I wouldn't oppose a constitutional amendment against being resurrected from the dead either, because I think God (and not the constitution) gets to determine what will and will not be for his church.
Okay, so back to tax-exemption. Does it make anyone else feel slightly icky that the church is put in this position of "owing" something to the state? I sometimes feel like the tax-exemption thing is like the "favor" that a mafia don has done for a church, and our response naturally is to not make a fuss when the don does something that doesn't sit right with us, out of our gratitude for his favor. And this is exactly how it works, when a church starts getting "to political" there are always threats of taking away the all sacred tax-exempt status. Well so what?! Martin Luther King Jr. had some pretty political things to say once upon a time. The gospel is always reaching out into culture and stirring up trouble. What if we were to scared to follow the gospel into the world because we thought it might mean we have to start paying taxes?
Now, to argue the other side for just a second... I certainly don't want a portion of my tithe money going to build fighter jets and bombs. But is this "innocence" worth the private and non-political box that the nation sticks the church in? There's got to be a better way.
What do you think? Are you for or against the tax-exempt status for churches?
Labels: Civil Religion, Politics, Theology
posted by Charlie at 4:58 PM
5 Comments:
That's a great question Charlie. You should push the issue even further and think about incorporation. What does it mean, as a church, to be incorporated? If the church isn't, then it isn't allowed to do all sorts of things, if it is, then it has the state's approval. Anyway, I think you posed a great question. I suppose I'm against it, but yet, am not really sure it's something to complain about, but it should be something that we can gladly part with if the state tries to use it against us (the church, that is).
Rusty
Nice post. I wholeheartedly agree. But like, Rusty I'm not sure there is anything to be done about it. Like claiming us as citizens, let the state do what it will. So long as we fearlessly proclaim the Gospel, what is God's and what is Caesar's will become clear.
On a related topic, I have often been troubled by the notion of receiving a federal income tax deduction for our tithes to the Church, which are considered "charitable donations." Why is it that we declare such an item on our tax return? Sometimes I wonder if Christians are all too glad to get that extra money in their pockets come April 15th. I do not mean to imply that Christians tithe so that they can save on income taxes. But I do think we are tempted to too easily accept the "bonus" the US government gives us for being charitable, contributing members of society. And we then go spend it.
Suggesting we simply do not declare such things seems rather ridiculous. I am not sure how doing so would be a faithful economic practice, and would be a rather unthoughtful form of nonconformance (oddly, by paying more taxes).
But one way I could see Christians rethinking the relationship between income, tithe, and taxes is to take the money saved and give that to the Church as well. If Caesar sees it fit to reward us for our charitable contributions, so that we have more money in our pockets to go spend, presumably, then why not offer that up as both a blessing to the Church and an act of defiance towards a state that has it all backwards.
Oh, and by the way Charlie, the image of the dollar bill you scanned at the top of the post reminded me: you owe me a buck.
You can mail it to me. Thank you.
[For the record, I have not really tried this myself. I have only ever given cash as tithe, so I've never had an official statement of my "contributions" to be used on my tax returns, and frequently I owe the government more money and find myself sending them a check on April 15.]
Charlie, I think the last issue ( or the one before) of Sojourners had an article giving some clarity to the tax exempt status of local churches.
Recently, I've been thinking about the way we as a church aide immigrants in the US without documents. I hear that there are churches here in KC that have openly declared that they will help any of these immigrants find shelter, healthcare, food, etc. It's known that if they are caught in the process...they can lose the tax exempt status.
Perhaps, our stance should simply be that we don't NEED the favor of tax exemption. We'll take it like a coin from the mouth of a fish (Matt 17:24-27). But the God of that fish will be there to provide whether we have tax exemption or not. Trusting this, we can be willing to sacrifice this exemption for the sake of doing justice.
...but there's no need to deny it by mouth. Deny it's neccessity by action...by doing justice...by worshipping our God.
Wow, really great thoughts and insights guys!
Kaz,
Thanks for pushing the question even further to those "charitable" tax deductions we get. You bring up some really good alternative and subversive ways of using that money!
Rusty and Montague,
I think you bring up some wise advice about not making a point to just throw off the tax-exempt system for the sake of doing it, but to be vigilant that we don't let it determine where and when we will follow the gospel into political matters, like offering Kingdom hospitality to foreigners!
I think, in part, it's an issue of the separation of Church and state. I know originally, at least, it was granted because the Church used to feed the hungry and clothe the poor. We're doing a piss-poor job of that, maybe they should take our status away based on how little or much we take care of the poor and widows.
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