[loeg]

> The details vary from country to country, of course, but some of the tax exemptions which religious groups get are actually just standard exemptions available to all non-profits, or all charities.

Right. Religious groups in the US get tax exemptions that non-religious 501(c)(3)s don't get. Churches can exempt themselves from FICA taxes. Churches are not required to withhold income taxes on wages paid to ministers. Churches can provide a housing allowance as compensation to ministers which is exempt from taxation

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1828.pdf

https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc417

> When people advocate ending religious tax-exemptions, do they mean to end tax-exemptions specific to religious groups – but not available to charities in general, or non-profits in general? Or do they also mean to deny religious groups their status as charities? Or even their status as non-profits?

I can't speak for anyone else, but I think churches should not get special treatment relative to other charitable organizations.

[skissane]

> Churches can exempt themselves from FICA taxes. Churches are not required to withhold income taxes on wages paid to ministers.

Churches don’t pay FICA on clergy, but the clergy are supposed to pay SECA instead. This is because the IRS doesn’t consider the church-clergy relationship to be an employer-employee. It is possible to be exempt from SECA too, but only if one asserts a religious objection to Social Security and Medicare - which I understand is rather rare. Furthermore it is only available to religious groups that existed in 1950, so if you start a new religion tomorrow you aren’t eligible, no matter how successful it might become.