Posted by:
Alpiner
(
)
Date: April 30, 2015 09:39AM
It's not just churches. Look at the Form 990 for any 501c3 and you'll see that many of them spend upwards of half a million on executive salaries and that the majority of their funds go either toward fundraising or compensation.
For example, to pick two
Greenpeace:
http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/global/usa/planet3/pdfs/inc-990-09.pdf(note the amounts for fundraising, payment processing, etc., as a part of the budget)
And the NRA Form 990:
https://archive.org/stream/NationalRifleAssociation2010IrsForm990/2010_NRA_IRS990#page/n0/mode/2upAgain, lots on fundraising and compensation.
I think that if you want to level the playing field, either eliminate 501c3's in their entirety or make religions file a 990. To treat religions differently (in a different way than they are presently) would just make it look like you're picking on them.