I think they should definitely pay taxes. Or at least ones that make a certain % more than their overhead costs, like land, electricity etc.
Edit: Because this was mostly me asking the flood, I decided to research it more.
This is the best info I have I found
http://churchesandtaxes.procon.org/
So my final conclusion is that if religious institutions were paying taxes it would cause a breach in the separation of church and state, and it would create a large conflict of interest. So at this juncture it seems things are better left as is.
-
oh great more ways for the government to steal people's property. We should totally do this because taxes totally aren't theft. In fact we're so far in hey why not tax everything? Getting payed to work? Taxed. Buying something? Taxed. Owning a -blam!-ing piece of land with a house on it! Taxed! Why not tax breathing or sleeping? Those sound like great -blam!-ing ideas!