Religion Takes More From Taxpayers

The US Supreme Court handed down a 5-4 decision (on straight party lines) in Espinoza et al. v. Montana Department of Revenue. The court held that Montana’s Constitutional provision barring state government aid to any school “controlled in whole or in part by any church, sect, or denomination” is unconstitutional. The court reasoned that the ban of state aid to religious schools violated the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the US Constitution. In essence, Montana’s “no-aid” provision to a state program providing tuition assistance to parents who send their children to private schools discriminated against religious schools and the families whose children attend or hope to attend them because aid ban violates the free exercise clause.

One commentator discussed the decision and what it might mean:

“Once again, a Supreme Court majority has gone to the edge of the cliff, ready to push the concept of no aid to religion over the side but stopping short. Even though the concept still exists (barely) in the form of making a distinction based on the “use” of tax funds rather than on the “status” of the recipient of those funds, the rule prohibiting government financial support for religion is all but dead. As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg observed in her dissent, even though the majority did not reach the ultimate conclusion, its opinion ‘seems to treat the [state’s] no aid provision itself as unconstitutional.’ 

It is not an overstatement to say that the U.S. Supreme Court’s holdings on public financial aid to religious institutions have not been a model of clarity or consistency over the past 75 years. In 1947, the court announced an apparent rule of “no aid” to religion: “No tax in any amount, large or small, can be levied to support any religious activities or institutions.” After declaring that rule, a majority then upheld the aid program in question, eliciting a torrent of criticism from the dissenters. Despite that statement’s absoluteness, the court has long allowed types of neutral and tangible assistance to flow to religious institutions, such as providing secular textbooks to religious schools. Over the past three decades, however, a majority of justices have slowly been dismantling the remaining vestiges of the no-aid principle to authorize forms of divertible aid (e.g., vouchers, tax credits), leaving the establishment clause a shell.”

In addition to Montana, 37 other states have constitutions that contain similar no-aid provisions prohibiting tax dollars being spent for religious institutions or education. It seems reasonable to think that the Espinoza decision casts at least some doubt on the validity of all those no-aid laws. Given the endless appetite of Christianity in America for public financial support, one can imagine that those laws will be challenged to nudge the court into total capitulation. 

Religion will aggressively pursue every tax dollar it can get. Once the tax dollar floodgates are opened, which is exactly what GOP supreme court judges want to do, the power of Christianity in government will increase with its increased revenue flows and accompanying wealth. America is drifting into some sort of a Christian theocracy-lite. From what I can tell, what is coming is not going to be a benign or forgiving form of Christianity that is willing to live and let live. It is going to impair our civil liberties as much as it can in the name of sacred Christian moral values. 

In reporting on the decision, the AP commented:

“Roughly three-dozen states have similar no-aid provisions in their constitutions. Courts in some states have relied on those provisions to strike down religious-school funding. Two states with existing private education programs, Maine and Vermont, could see quick efforts to force them to allow religious schools to participate.”

Tax subsidies for religion

In 2013, Ryan T. Cragun, a sociologist, and two of his students tried to analyze the value of tax subsidies that all of the American people are required by tax laws to provide to religion in America. Cragun estimated the subsidies were worth about $82.5 billion/year. I wrote to Cragun and asked him how accurate he thought that estimate was. He indicated it was very conservative because many churches and religious organizations refused to disclose their financial details. My guess is that tax breaks for religion in America were probably worth closer to ~$110 billion/year and possibly a lot more.

Cragun’s analysis of tax benefits 

Churches are public charities, called Section 501(c)(3) organizations in the tax code. They are generally exempt from federal, state, and local income and property taxes under the law. Unlike most other Section 501(c)(3) organizations, federal law allows religious groups to keep their finances secret. In 2018, the Freedom From Religion Foundation sued the Treasury Department to get its hands on religious financial documents. I don't know how that lawsuit has played out so far. I suspect the court will protect religion from public financial disclosure.

On occasion, religious groups have been caught hiding sleaze and corruption behind the secrecy shield. Forbes wrote this about the 2108 FFRF lawsuit:

“Form 990 is a required filing that creates significant transparency for exempt organizations. In 1971, it was harder to get your hands on a Form 990, but a team of reporters working for Warren Buffet's Omaha Sun took the trouble which allowed them to expose the extent to which fundraising had outstripped service delivery at the venerable Boys Town.

But, in contrast to other not-for profits, the Internal Revenue Code does not require reporting for churches. Reverend Frank Benson Jones in Stop The Prosperity Preachers argues that a 990 requirement would help root out church financial abuse.”

The Mormon Church has used the secrecy shield to allegedly cheat on taxes. A December 2019 article in the Washington Post commented:  

“A former investment manager alleges in a whistleblower complaint to the Internal Revenue Service that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has amassed about $100 billion in accounts intended for charitable purposes, according to a copy of the complaint obtained by The Washington Post.

The confidential document, received by the IRS on Nov. 21, accuses church leaders of misleading members — and possibly breaching federal tax rules — by stockpiling their surplus donations instead of using them for charitable works. It also accuses church leaders of using the tax-exempt donations to prop up a pair of businesses.”

Given the aggressiveness of religion in clawing tax dollars from taxpayers and its now powerful influence at all levels of the federal government, it is reasonable to demand at least transparency in their finances. It is also reasonable to demand the end of all tax subsidies at least for all religious groups that participate in politics and policy making. The Espinoza decision fits my definition of religion making policy in service to its own interests at the expense of both the public interest and honest, transparent governance.