NE Senator: Relgious Organizations 'PAY YOUR TAXES'

In this, we've seen the future. It will be interesting to see how this impacts the church in the next few decades.

I'm not a real estate agent or economist by trade, but I think this will impact the smaller and oldest churches first, especially small churches who live in areas that have experienced something of a real estate boom, and now sit on prized and valuable land as the town around them has become developed. Many of these churches already operate on a shoe-string budget, and simply could not afford to start paying property taxes.

Many will be forced to meet at alternative locations. Many will probably crowd into local public school auditoriums. Although, in many areas, the local public schools are already relatively full, as this is a favorite place for many to try and plant a church at.

I see this as ultimately increasing the size of many larger churches, who can better financially weather such storms. But many of them also own prime real estate, which will put a huge financial pinch on some of these congregations. Such will probably force many larger churches to meet in locations that are in "cheaper" parts of town that are less affluent, i.e. on the other side of the tracks.