The Mormon Church is deeply rooted in exclusionary, racist, homophobic, misogynistic, and colonialist practices, but why are they rewarded with both state and federal tax exemption?
The Church Of Latter Day Saints has an estimated net worth exceeding $100 billion, but like many other practices, the exact net worth is shrouded in secrecy.
The Mormon Church amasses its’ wealth by collecting tithes from its members, collecting ten percent of its members’ annual salary, meaning that if you make $100,000 annually, you pay $10,000 in tithe on top of tax. This copious wealth is spent lavishly, helping build a billion-dollar, global real-estate tycoon. Furthermore, whistleblowers have accused the church of using its financial resources to “bail out for-profit companies, ” according to David Nielsen, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ former investment adviser, speaking on CBS’ 60 Minutes.
The church maintains its tax-exemption status by operating under a 501(c)3 status, meaning that it is a “non-profit” despite engaging in fiscal practices on par with a privately owned business.
Ironically, the church’s founder, Joseph Smith, was also a fraud, arrested at least 42 times in the states of New York, Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois for a plethora of financial crimes.
The churches’ tax exemption status has been threatened to be revoked before. In 1978, the federal government said it would no longer give the Mormon Church tax exemption due to its stance on forbidding African-Americans to participate in priesthood. Days after the federal government issued this decree, the church conveniently came forward, stating, “God has revealed a change in policy to Latter Day Saint prophet.”
However, why is the church permitted to continue its problematic practices today? Mormon leadership openly forbids gay marriage and the existence of LGBTQ people as a whole. For years, the church has involved itself in scandals of trying to cover up evidence of sexual abuse, many of which pertain to predatory therapists, who abuse patients in treatment for “homosexual tendencies.”
Those who leave or dissent from the Mormon Church are also subjected to severe harassment and exile, shunned and traumatized for their decision to leave an abusive institution. Ex-Mormons often report facing shunning from community members as well as frequent emails, letters, pamphlets, and books urging them to return to a life of holy subordinance.
Furthermore, according to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), grounds for automatic revocation of tax-exempt status include lobbying by “attempting to influence legislation” and electioneering by “campaigning for or against candidates for an elected office,” both of which the Mormon Church has been known to do.
The Church Of Latter Day Saints is deeply involved in Utah-based politics, hiring paid lobbyists to meet with state legislators to discuss bills and referendums to sway them towards Mormon interests.
However, the vast lobbying is not limited to Utah; in 2008, California Proposition 8 was on the ballot, stating, “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” This initiative was passed due to the extensive lobbying and meddling in elections in the name of the Mormon Church. The day Proposition 8 was passed, three separate lawsuits were filed directly to the Supreme Court of California, leading to the recall of Proposition 8 in federal courts based on violating the 14th Amendment (equal protection under the law).
Ultimately, it is abundantly clear that the Mormon Church continues to flagrantly violate IRS policy that constitutes grounds for immediate revocation of 501(c)3 status. And follows outdated, homophobic, and discriminatory policies. But this is just the tip of the iceberg; the Church of Latter-Day Saints engages in a plethora of problematic behaviors that should result in the revocation of its tax exemption status.
The Scribe Circle 
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