Does anyone else think it's time to tax the churches?

[LTX]

86. Absolutely not, and a perfectly ridiculous idea:

It is an article of faith among many anti-theists that all churches, synagogues, and mosques are of the mega-variety. That is patently wrong. To put average congregation size in perspective, see:

http://hirr.hartsem.edu/research/fastfacts/fast_facts.html#sizecong

For the vast majority of religious facilities, the sole taxable asset is the property and building. Cash for clerical salaries and operational expenses comes from congregational donations, and to add property taxes into those expenses would drive an enormous number of small churches, synagogues, and mosques out of existence. Ironically enough, you would then have as the only survivors the very mega-churches that so many find offensive.

Furthermore, those surviving mega-churches of the fundamentalist christian variety would then be perfectly free to become unobstructed political arms of the Republican party. After all, the only impediment (granted, an abused impediment, but still an impediment) to employing church assets for political gain is the current tax status of those assets.