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Texas House candidate campaigning in churches, in potential legal violation
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 04 Nov 2024
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Are those churches tax-exempt? Well, if they do this, they shouldn't. Time for the IRS to earn some tax dollars!
The Churches are hoping they can challenge this in court eventually and the IRS is fully aware of this fact. They only go after the most extreme violations.
If they can set precedences with some churches, it will be easier to go after the rest.
I'm Christian and believe strongly in the separation of church and state because it makes better governments and better churches. I also believe that any entity paying taxes should have some level of input on the political process. Between that and the legitimate non-profit status of most churches, I strongly support legitimate religious institutions being exempt from taxes in the same way I support the food bank and non-profit cultural centers being tax exempt.
But churches that choose to participate directly in the political process are not holding up their end of the bargain. They're making church and politics both worse, and their tax-exempt status should absolutely be revoked.