I suggested this recently in another post. Certainly legislation could be written that would spare the little guys, while sticking it to the profit makers. Certainly the LDS church should not be able to get away with what it does.
I say they should report what was spent on genuine humanitarian aid/shelters/water purification type of projects in 3rd world countries/homeless meals/food for the needy etc etc etc. They needn't pay taxes on those funds, but when they have extra to buy a newspaper or a TV station, or a hotel, or a MOTHER BLEEPING MALL, those funds should be taxed.
A few years ago Colorado had an initiative on the ballot to remove the tax exemption for churches.
It failed 7 to 1.
Nobody wanted THEIR church taxed. But nobody seemed to realize that by not taxing their church they were subsidizing all the other (heretic and untrue) churches.
PLUS, you get to vote out the snakes in gov't every so often.
Try voting out the religious snake who hold your family's mental health at stake.
The problem is that the priests and kings have an alliance going.
The king gets to stay in power living large if he can get the priest to keep the people docile living little. In return the priests get power too. Sweet. The sheep are happy with their immortal stairway to heaven promises and keep their religions rich.
Meanwhile, the people, usually through repetitive religious memes, do whatever their religion tells them to do. They have memorized automatic responses to any criticism of their religion.
IRS to Church: You may exempt from income taxes and property taxes income and property to the extent that you show the amount in dollars or time that you donate to truly charitable causes. This doesn't include building chapels, temples, etc.
Historically, government governed and churches provided social services. The government expected the church (perhaps a state denomination) to provide social services compatible with government policy (and certainly not critical of government); while the church enjoyed protected status within society and tax exempt status.
In those circumstances, tax exempt status for a church is justified because the church is performing a function of government. What can be said for society today?
Government provides the majority of social services in our society today. Churches may only justify tax exempt status if they can demonstrate that they divert people away from consuming government services. Therefore, let people claim tax exemption on their donations to churches. But if they do, they have chosen to live outside government social programs.