Render Unto Caesar

Ed Brayton passes along a Wall Street Journal report on an extremely generous interpretation of the tax break for parsonages. Apparently a $400,000 second home was tax exempt in the case of Phil Driscoll’s home in Cleveland, Tennessee.

Mr. Driscoll, who won the Tax Court ruling, leads Mighty Horn Ministries of Greensboro, Ga., which had income of more than $6 million from 2005 to 2009, according to tax filings.

Mr. Driscoll turned to the ministry after a popular music career that included playing a trumpet solo on the last “Ed Sullivan Show” in 1971 and composing for Joe Cocker and the band Blood, Sweat and Tears.

In 2005, a federal grand jury accused him of diverting ministry funds for personal expenses. Prosecutors said he used ministry funds from 1996 to 1999 for luxury cars, funeral bills for his mother and other personal items.

The report also mentions the $6.2 million home of Kenneth Copeland.

Philosophically, I question the propriety of offering tax breaks to any religion simply for being a religion. More appropriate would be tax breaks commensurate with the charitable works performed, regardless of whether the works were religiously motivated or otherwise. But, as a practical matter, I can’t get too worked up about what I believe to be the typical situation – church groups of modest means that put aside some property to house their minister who is not lavishly compensated.

But the Copelands and, I suppose, the Driscolls of the world make it clear that such breaks can be abused to where it looks like corrective action is necessary. If the tax code needs to keep the exemption, we should probably further complicate it by specifying one house per congregation and set a dollar limit of some sort.