Should Clergy Receive Tax Exemptions For Their Housing?

Published: Tuesday, October 30, 2018 - 12:50pm
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A three-judge panel of the 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals is considering a challenge to the parsonage exemption. Basically, it allows members of the clergy to exempt the value of their home from income if that home is provided by their employer.

Similarly, if the employer provides a housing allowance, that also is not included in the clergy-member’s income.

Adam Chodorow was recently in Chicago arguing in opposition to this provision of the tax code. He’s a tax professor and associate dean for Academic Affairs at ASU’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law.

The Show spoke with him and asked him if the parsonage exemption is any different than the mortgage interest deduction that’s available to any homeowner.

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