Tax Break for Clergy QuestionedThe article goes on and gets more seedy…
Congress scrutinizes every nook and cranny of the budget for possible revenue, a surprising court decision is allowing clergy members to buy or live in multiple homes tax-free.
The U.S. Tax Court ruled that Phil Driscoll, an ordained minister and Grammy Award-winning trumpeter who went to prison for tax evasion, didn't owe federal income taxes on $408,638 provided to him by his ministry to buy a second home on a lake near Cleveland, Tenn.
Under a provision of the tax code known as the parsonage allowance, first passed in 1921, an ordained clergy member may live tax-free in a home owned by his or her religious organization or receive a tax-free annual payment to buy or rent a home if the congregation approves.
The Tax Court ruling, made final in March, extends the parsonage allowance to an unlimited number of homes, which may be owned either by the religious organization or the clergy member.
There is no restriction on the value of the home that can be claimed under the exemption. The chief limit is that the annual payment to buy or rent the home may not exceed its rental value, Ms. Aprill says.
In January, the Senate committee released the results of an investigation into several high-profile ministries that raise money through radio, television and the Internet. It cited evidence of large parsonage allowances at several groups, although the groups declined to answer questions submitted by the committee, citing constitutional protections.
According to the report, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, who lead Kenneth Copeland Ministries in Fort Worth, Texas, live in an 18,280 square-foot lakefront parsonage on 25 acres. The report said county officials valued the church-owned property at $6.2 million in 2008.
David Middlebrook, a lawyer for Mr. Copeland, says the house is "a wholly owned and appreciating asset of Kenneth Copeland Ministries.…The ownership and operation of the parsonage is completely in accordance with IRS rules and regulations."
Mr. Driscoll, who won the Tax Court ruling, leads Mighty Horn Ministries of Greensboro, Ga., which had income of more than $6 million from 2005 to 2009, according to tax filings.
I have long been of the opinion that, while I am in favor of people paying as little as possible in taxes, the clergy tax break is a bad idea. It puts the state in the position of being at least partially in the role of influencing decisions in the church. Clerical pay, which I am against in the first place, is a complex beast. The less the state has to do with the church, the better. Get rid of special tax treatment for parsonages and clergy pay. Get rid of the tax deductibility of contributions to churches. Let Christians give sacrificially without getting a benefit from the state.
What do you think? Should the church in America accept special tax treatments, even if that means that contributions are potentially made with ulterior motives? Or should the church reject any favorable tax treatment from the state?
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