Before taking up the subject of statistics, it will not be amiss to
quote the exemption law of New York as typical of church graft at its
worst. It will be seen that references to religious uses and purposes
are ingeniously smuggled in, side by side with much verbiage as to
institutions serving a public purpose, so that they may appear to fit
naturally among such bodies as so minister to the collective needs of
the community that they deserve to be subsidized by the state. For this
reason, it is best to cite the germane portions of the statute in
full, instead of isolating those that relate solely to the churches.
Incidentally, it will be noted that the churches are not once mentioned
by name. It is the nature of graft to seek shelter under evasion, and to
avoid clear expression of its intentions. The following, then, is drawn
from Section 4, subdivision 7, of the Tax Law of New York:
"The real property of a corporation or association organized exclusively
for the moral or mental improvement of men or women, or for religious,
bible, tract, charitable, benevolent, missionary, hospital, infirmary,
educational, scientific, literary, library, patriotic, historical or
cemetery purposes... and the personal property of any such corporation
shall be exempt from taxation. But no such corporation shall be entitled
to any such exemption, if any member or employee thereof shall receive
or may be lawfully entitled to receive any pecuniary profit from the
operations thereof except reasonable compensation for services in
effecting one or more of such purposes, or as proper beneficiaries of
its strictly charitable purposes; or if the organization thereof, for
any of such avowed purposes, be a guise or pretence for profit... or if
it be not in good faith organized or conducted exclusively for one or
more of such purposes. The real property of any such corporation or
association entitled to such exemption held by it exclusively for one
or more of such purposes, and from which no rents, profits or income
are derived, shall be so exempt, although not in actual use therefor by
reason of the absence of suitable buildings or improvements thereon, if
the construction of such buildings is in progress, or is in good faith
contemplated by such corporation or association.... Property held by
any officer of a religious denomination shall be entitled to the same
exemption, subject to the same conditions and exceptions, as property
held by a religious corporation."
In the comprehensive list of exempted classes of property enumerated
above, it will be observed that all save those of a religious nature
have at least some show of claim to be regarded as ministering to public
aims, or as essential to the existence of a civilized community, and
therefore deserving of public encouragement. Whether the claim is in all
cases sufficient to warrant exemption from taxation, need not be here
discussed. In the opinion of many students of the problem, nearly all
exemptions are illicit. Whether that be the case or not, it has been
made clear that the argument for taxing churches is stronger than that
for taxing any of the other classes, and the argument against it weaker.
This results from the fact that religion is more distinctly a matter of
the individual than is literature, science, education or philanthropy.
Hence, even if it be good public policy to subsidize these agents of
social progress, it by no means follows that the same is true of the
churches; while, conversely, the taxation of churches need not logically
embrace the taxation of any of the other classes. Each must stand on its
own merits; and in each case enter considerations that make it improper
to draw the fate of any one of them into that of any other. That a
mischievous and loosely drawn statute has bracketed them all together
should not blind us to the radical differences that exist among them, or
to the fact that none of the grounds on which exemption of most of the
others is defended apply in any degree to the churches.