Church Financial Secrecy, the Most Underreported Religion Story in America

Churches get an exemption not provided to other U.S. nonprofit organizations: they aren't required to file annual reports making public their financial records. According to the Cross Examined blog, this is unfair, it makes churches look like they're hiding something, and Christians would benefit most if this exemption were eliminated.

News provided by

PRWeb House E-Commerce

Mar 22, 2019, 11:00 ET

SEATTLE, March 22, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Churches are the beneficiary of an embarrassing exemption. In return for tax-exempt status, all U.S. nonprofits make their financial records public to show that they used their income wisely. The only exception is churches.

This financial secrecy is unfair to other nonprofits and to the taxpayers who must pay more. Worse, it's embarrassing for churches, since it looks like they have something to hide. Given the occasional church financial scandal, some do, but this is unfair to the majority of churches who spend their money wisely.

The fix is simple. The exemption that allows churches to avoid filing an annual IRS form 990 should be removed. This change would let light into church finances and improve the reputation of American churches at a time when that reputation has taken some hits.

Far from being a political third rail, Christians would be leading the charge to get this exemption removed if they knew about it. The benefits of church financial transparency include:

  • It eliminates the awkward "What are you hiding?" question
  • Churches lose billions of dollars to internal fraud each year, and transparency discourages impropriety
  • Church scandals could be caught at an earlier stage
  • Tax-exempt status is a subsidy worth $80 billion annually to churches, and taxpayers deserve to see what they're paying for
  • Favoritism to religion is a constitutional violation
  • Church members can see how their donations are spent, anonymously
  • Religious cults would have their finances exposed
  • The IRS form 990 already exists, it's mature and well understood, and no new bureaucracy would be required
  • Church governance is easier when the question of what finances to disclose has been answered
  • Transparency encourages more donations
  • For the smallest organizations, the form takes just minutes to complete

Churches' exemption to filing annual IRS form 990s should be removed. Christians need to hear about this problem, the most underreported religion story in America.

This issue is analyzed in detail, including these arguments and more, in this article.

Bob Seidensticker
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/crossexamined
[email protected]
END

SOURCE PRWeb House E-Commerce