The Associated Press reports that Catholic dioceses took in at least $1.4-billion in PPP loans, and perhaps as much as $3.5-billion.
The U.S. Roman Catholic Church used a special and unprecedented exemption from federal rules to amass at least $1.4 billion in taxpayer-backed coronavirus aid, with many millions going to dioceses that have paid huge settlements or sought bankruptcy protection because of clergy sexual abuse cover-ups.
The church’s haul may have reached — or even exceeded — $3.5 billion, making a global religious institution with more than a billion followers among the biggest winners in the U.S. government’s pandemic relief efforts, an Associated Press analysis of federal data released this week found.
Since these loans are forgivable if they’re used to meet salaries, this means that taxpayers may end-up footing the bill for the church’s many sexual abuse settlements.
Not to mention that all of us — all of us — subsidize religion to the tune of about $200/year via church’s privileged tax status. Churches should never have been eligible for PPP loans, and it’s time past for them to start paying taxes on their income.