Churches are taxed in (a lot of?) other countries outside the US. I'm in favor of letting churches, and really any non-profit worthy of the name, be exempt from taxation. On the other hand, if Nome does go ahead with this and it somehow turns into a widespread trend, I'm certainly not going to start crying "persecution!" and "we're victims here!" over it. I would, however, vote against such a measure if I were ever in a position to do so. Tax-exempting seems like a reasonable way to encourage the voluntary sector (something I'm all in favor of encouraging), a bit like the ability to deduct charitable donations against one's taxable income.

Yellowjacket: It's weird to conflate churches with non-profits. Churches are definitely not non-profits.

@JECE, blame the tax codes on that one.

A bad way to implement an idea that I oppose but can understand support for. I would think removing a church's (or churches') tax-exempt nonprofit status would be the way to go about taxing them if one felt that they didn't deserve such an exemption; this method throws the baby out with the bathwater (if indeed churches' tax-exempt status is even bathwater at all).

KingCyrus: I guess you're right. A comment in the article directs people to:
http://www.taxexemptworld.com/organizations/nome-ak-alaska.asp
I didn't notice it the first time I opened the link, but now that I went back and checked, I noticed a few churches on the list.

Interestingly enough, though, U. S. churches can apparently loose tax-exempt status under certain conditions:
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1828.pdf
I wonder if any of that is actually enforced.

Very rarely, JECE, and it's usually very hard to do. The Church of Scientology had a very long, very ugly battle with the IRS that it finally won, and it was a relatively obvious case. Also, there are pastors who break the political endorsement rules, and little is usually done about it.

Anyway, I'm opposed as well. I'm actually a little surprised that's even allowed under Alaska state law, but that's the beauty of having fifty different states, I guess.

Taxing nonprofits is one of the most direct ways to make life worse for society's most vulnerable; in many cases, that includes churches. (Some churches, it might make life directly worse for other sectors of society).

JECE, under typical definitions of non-profits, churches are clearly non-profits. There are no stockholders receiving dividends from left-over intake. It's true that in some large churches (as in some other non-profits), a scandalous amount of money is spent on salaries and on frivolous expenditures. That's far from universal, and I'd be surprised if Nome has any megachurches.

I want to move to Nome now. Great news.

The initial reason Churches were exempt from taxation was in an effort to ensure that the government and church would remain independent of each other was it not? Taxation of religious entities could lead to indirect government support or discrimination against specific religious groups. I'm not saying that this is the case now, but I can't say I'd be in favor of this idea.

Churches are not even audited. They make tons of money, discriminate against their workers in their "non-profit" businesses with impunity, and consistently meddle in the political process. All the while they cry persecution from the rooftops whenever anybody opposes the draconian policies they want to impose on everybody.

I hope Nome is just the beginning.

@Putin, they make tons of money? Maybe the mega churches & massive organized religions (Catholics, etc), but there is a huge (majority I'm sure) % of individual small churches that barely scrap by month to month and rely on volunteers to get even the most basic services done. Many Pastors of the churches hold part time jobs to get by. Or their wives take on 2nd jobs so the family can have health insurance so the church doesn't have to pay for it.

Don't be blind in thinking that the most biggest denominations are the overwhelming majority on the 'per church' level.

*most biggest = yes, I said it!

Mormons are super rich (tithing brings in boatloads). Catholics are super rich. Baptists are super rich. Buddhist temples extract huge membership fees to join. A Presbyterian pastor friend of mine (long story) lives in a palace of a home in Hookstown, PA.

Sorry I don't buy the pastors are struggling to get by story. Maybe if they allowed their churches to be audited and the data reflected that I'd believe it.

Methodists must be rich enough to buy up half the hospitals, as well.

So, what is left?

Satanists seem to be rather poorly funded.

Jewish clergy are paid very well, some over six digits a year. I don't know why people think that they struggle.

Sorry, Putin33. This isn't the harbinger of the new Jacobin order you want so badly. All it is is a municipality proposing to revoke the current exemption nonprofits have from paying sales tax. Whether churches pay local or state sales tax varies all over the country.

This is no revolution. It's click bait.

all taxes are wrong and we should all resort to individual subsistence farming.

JamesYanik: Ha ha. We can use the church buildings for firewood while we're at it.