SHOULD CHURCHES REMAIN TAX-EXEMPT?

US churches* received an official federal income tax
exemption in 1894, and they have been unofficially tax-
exempt since the country's founding. All 50 US states
and the District of Columbia exempt churches from
paying property tax. Donations to churches are tax-
deductible. The debate continues over whether or not
these tax benefits should be retained.
Proponents argue that a tax exemption keeps the
government out of church finances and thus upholds the
separation of church and state. They say that churches
deserve a tax break because they provide crucial social
services, and that 200 years of church tax exemptions
have not turned America into a theocracy.
Opponents argue that giving churches special tax
exemptions violates the separation of church and state,
and that tax exemptions are a privilege, not a
constitutional right. They say that in tough economic
times the government cannot afford what amounts to a
subsidy worth billions of dollars every year.
The first recorded tax exemption for churches was
during the Roman Empire, when Constantine, Emperor of
Rome from 306-337, granted the Christian church a
complete exemption from all forms of taxation following
his conversion to Christianity circa 312.