Paying a lot in TX property taxes? Church orgs don't have to.

They estimated it cost the state a little over $16M. They collect $67.2B each year, or at least in 2019, meaning citizens missed out on an extra .02% of property tax income.

I'm more concerned with the way they're spending it VS what organization is paying for it. Although, I feel like if you're not connected physically (or within a reasonable distance) there should probably be some tax. Also, there should be some kind of usage ratio. Like 1 guy for a mansion doesn't seem right.

 

I would be more interested in tax-exempt for religious donations in general. How much of that is going back to society at large and how much of that is personal gain? Personal gain should generally be taxed as income.

 

i grew up catholic and the priests always lived in a house on church property. and i think that was the case with pretty much every catholic church ive known. im against churches being tax exempt (especially the ones that invoke politics from the pulpit), but as long as were doing it i dont have a problem with giving tax exemption to clergy who lives on church property and im guessing that is what this law was originally designed for. when i was a kid the priest at our church lived in a mobile home next to the church...its a far cry from the joel osteens of the world in their giant mansions.

 

I don't have any problem with a tax break for parsonages. Sure, there are some multi-million dollar mansions owned by megachurches, but that's the exception.

 

If there is a problem with the parsonage law, I'd rather they just wrote a letter to their state congressman. They do a four-part series in the Chron so they can get people riled up about a tax code they don't actually understand (though they think they do because they learned all about it in the Chron).

 

Simple solution is to place a reasonable dollar amount cap on the value that can be exempt for "parsonage" residences.

The entire appraisal process and valuation needs a complete overhaul. Property tax rate percentages are already too high, and property that doesn't have a homestead or other exemption are going up in appraised value by insane amounts, year after year.

Texas may not have a state income tax, but damn do we pay out the azz in property taxes.

 

Might be too simple. An $X valuation cap that sounds generous for a church in Killeen could be too restrictive on a church in River Oaks. Property values vary so much by location, and churches by their nature are local.

 

The bigger issue is the blurring between church and state and how religion is big business.

What's the point of all this favorable tax status with all this homelessness, drug abuse, child poverty, etc.? What are the churches doing with all this money coming in?

If these churches/non denominational grifters are going to be against abortion then they should be mandated to run adoption centers ,etc. There is a reason why the bible belt has so much teenage pregnancy and welfare.

 

If you don't know, maybe find out first. Churches (and houses or worship of other faiths) do a ton of work on all of those issues.

 

Perhaps they have some financial reports I can browse instead of just taking their word for it?

Ex Catholic here....

 

Yep Yep.

 

Catholic churches are perhaps not that transparent on their finances. Many protestant churches share their budgets publicly with the congregation. If I cared enough, I could see the categories of spending for my church, including how much goes into payroll. Lakewood is not transparent, though their budget leaked in 2018. I can't tell from the information how much they spend on deaconate type stuff though.

 

I’m fine with it as long as they stay out of politics completely and are subject to paying the full tax penalties if they are caught involving themselves in political contributions (monetary or intangible).

Jerry Followill Jr… (and many more like him) should be paying taxes on his entire ministry related enterprise and not be allowed to be classified as anything more than a political lobbying organization.

 

Are you seriously implying that a church parson should have the unencumbered right to live in a place like River Oaks and pay no taxes?

Just wow.....

Frankly, there should be no tax breaks for churches beyond those typically offered to a business and the costs of charitable activities. After all, they're all basically a business - their product is a promise of spiritual salvation - and the charitable activities are very often nothing more than advertising for more customer. I'm willing to overlook this and let them liberally utilize charitable deductions but everything else should be taxed like any other business.

 

This one is near Lake Conroe. It sits on a 3 acre lot even though the law limits to 1 acre. it "slipped through the cracks."



This one near Ft Worth also slipped past the 1 acre limit.

 

They really don't and everyone knows it.

No they do not,