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Cost-Benefit Analysis Of
Religion's Tax Exemption?
Carey

From:
To: "Positive Atheism" <editor@positiveatheism.org>
Subject: Jesus is wheat, not rice, not corn, just wheat!
Date: Friday, February 02, 2001 10:57 PM

I also have a question. Do you have access to an approximate dollar figure for how much religion costs American taxpayers in an average year? The only number I found on PAM was on
http://www.positiveatheism.org/writ/churchtx.htm
which quoted Coloradans for Fair Property Taxation as saying the State of Colorado estimates that real estate taxes would be decreased approximately $70,000,000 by eliminating any property tax exemptions for real property used for religious purposes.

I am doing some preliminary research (in my spare time) into whether religion's net effect on the U.S. economy is positive or negative. Simply put, are tax payers getting their money's worth? For example, if Colorado can be shown to be an average state in terms of property tax, then in just this one exemption, religion is costing us, collectively, three and a half billion dollars. I have found statistics (http://www.positiveatheism.org/mail/eml9671.htm) suggesting that religious people are more likely than atheists to commit crimes (including the sexual abuse of children), have low paying jobs (and pay less tax), and discontinue education (and make fewer contributions to culture). So, what are we getting for $ 3,500,000,000 that we can't get by investing it in education? We could spend it all on Furbies and be better off.

Hmmm. That was a bit more than I intended to write. Anyway, any ideas where that kind of info can be found? Thanks,
-- Carey

From: "Positive Atheism Magazine" <editor@positiveatheism.org>
To:
Subject: Re: Jesus is wheat, not rice, not corn, just wheat!
Date: Saturday, February 03, 2001 4:39 AM

You missed the quotation from President Ulysses S. Grant when he calculated how much this form of tax evasion could eventually cost us:

Now, Grant's $3 billion figure was in property value not the amount of the tax evasion.

Madalyn Murray O'Hair came up with some figures in the early 1970s or so, but I don't have them handy. The assessment wing of any state treasurer's office ought to be able to come up with these figures -- but don't count on it: since they don't have to pay taxes, why should we waste our already slim resources just to find out how much we cannot collect?

Perhaps Bush did bring his own rope. Perhaps his boondoggles will wake the public up to the mess we're already in by not listening to our Founding Fathers!

Cliff Walker
"Positive Atheism" Magazine
Five years of service to
     people with no reason to believe

From:
To: "Positive Atheism" <editor@positiveatheism.org>
Subject: Cost-Benefit Analysis
Date: Saturday, February 03, 2001 10:38 PM

It is very difficult to find the assessed values for church owned property. The various state tax information web sites offer no help. I am going to try insurance companies next. Meanwhile, I am trying corroborate the three and a half billion dollar figure I mentioned earlier. I took the figure of three billion dollars in church owned property in 1900 quoted from President Grant and applied a very conservative estimate to bring it up to date. My method is probably flawed, but I'm hoping it gets me in the ballpark.

To bring the figure up to date I made the following assumptions:

1. 3% average annual inflation in property value between 1900 and 2001 (source: www.quicken.com)

2. No increase in physical church property, no more acreage or buildings. The basis for this is a Gallup poll (http://www.gallup.com/poll/indicators/indreligion.asp) that indicates that 57% of Americans currently claim religion is 'very important' to them. If you average the 'very important' percentages since the first year this question was asked (1952) you get about 58%. This suggests to me that church attendance and support has remained steady for the past fifty years. It is likely that church property has increased if for no other reason than the tax exemption itself.

3. A survey of 800 U.S. cities (http://verticals.yahoo.com/cities/categories/proptaxrate.html) yields an average property tax rate of 2% (by the way, I was chagrined to discover I live in a city with the third highest rate). So, assuming no additional property and applying a 3% increase in value annually between 1900 and 2001 you get a current value on church owned property of about $61,167,140,000. At a 2% tax rate, state and local governments are losing out on $1,223,342,800 per year in tax revenue. This is about $24,466,856 per state.

This is a very conservative estimate. The lost revenue is probably much higher. I'll keep digging.

Regardless of the exact dollar value, there is evidence to suggest that when it comes to America's obsession with religion, both the Cost column and the Benefit column are in the red.

-- Carey

From: "Positive Atheism" <editor@positiveatheism.org>
To: "Carey Sherrill"
Subject: Re: Cost-Benefit Analysis
Date: Saturday, February 03, 2001 11:29 PM

I took the figure of three billion dollars in church owned property in 1900 quoted from President Grant ...

Grant's figure was nothing more than a prediction -- and rhetorical one at that. He lived from 1822 to 1885 and served in the Presidency from 1869 to 1877.
 

I am going to try insurance companies next.

The insurance figures, as biased as insurance assessments are, are probably your closest bet to coming up with a working figure.
 

It is likely that church property has increased if for no other reason than the tax exemption itself.

You're omitting the population increase, aren't you?

Cliff Walker
"Positive Atheism" Magazine
Five years of service to
     people with no reason to believe

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