Would taxing ALL the churches be more consistent with separation of church and state?

[Bill McBlueState]

There's a lot of talk about whether Trinity UCC should be stripped of its tax-exempt status. The crux of the issue is whether its pastors are violating IRS rules by promoting a particular candidacy.

The way the IRS monitors what gets said in a church in order to decide its tax status seems like an intrusion of government into religion. Pastors have to carefully follow IRS regulations when they write their sermons; otherwise they could be subject to investigation.

What if we just started taxing all churches? Then, the government wouldn't have to be in the business of deciding which speech is religious and which speech is political. This might actually be more consistent with the First Amendment.