Should Churches Be Taxed?

We just wrapped up morning service today.  My church service is similar to many others.  There are songs (sometimes more than others).  A few prayers.  A WONDERFUL message.  And there's the tithes/offerings portion (which I support).  I've thought about this in the past, and this thought crossed my mind again today: Should churches be exempt from paying taxes?

The thought first crossed my mind in 2005, when I started attending a medium size church (above 1,000 members, less than 3,000) for the first time ever.  I received a letter from them outlying the 'trackable money' that I gave to them via tithes/offering.  I later discovered, I could use that information at tax time as a deduction.  According to the National Council of Churches in New York, they estimate that church collections (in New York, alone) amounted to $32 billion in 2005.  Considering this is an estimate based on the churches that are apart of this council AND it probably doesn't include cash donations, the numbers could be significantly more.  If any earnings above $500,000 (as an example) were taxed at our lowest tax bracket (10%), the revenues generated would be beneficial to our local and federal government. 

Don't confuse the argument here.  This is NOT an attack on churches.  I don't think that all of them have leaders who are money hungry, ATM in the lobby having monsters whose sole purpose is to weasel its followers out of their hard earned dollars.  I do believe, however, that SOME churches make considerable profits.  After all, according to the logic for some, if profits are bad for health insurance companies, they must REALLY be bad for Creflo Dollar who earned at least $69 million dollars in tax free revenue in 2006 from his church contributions alone (Yes, I cited Wiki, but it's the best thing available since he refuses to disclose his financial position publicly).  I believe there should be rare exceptions to those that qualify for this tax exemption.  As it stands now, any organization that files under the 501(c)(3) code is exempt (think PETA, which spends millions yearly to for actors/actresses/athletes to advertise for them).  I'm sure the IRS could construct guidelines on which churches should be taxed and which ones are exempt. (less than 3,000 members, for example would be tax-exempt).  I don't have the answer on how to get it done, I just feel that it could and should be done.  Either that or they can continue to raise the taxes for the rest of us to pay for their programs.

Any politicians ready to risk their career with this proposal?

CDA2