[kritikos]

But what happens to the tens of thousands of ministers who are working with small congregations too poor to pay a livable salary? The loss to the ministers and their congregations would be tremendous. This deduction has allowed churches to exist that would not otherwise exist.

[thinktwice]

But what happens to the tens of thousands of ministers who are working with small congregations too poor to pay a livable salary?

What happens, is the religious want-to-be failure gets a job.

[tahiti]

You missed my second point.

If a tax deduction is unconstitutional because of the "establishment clause" of the First Amendment, then any tax at all assessed against a religion is unconstitutional because it violates the "free exercise thereof" clause of the First Amendment.

Thus, the small congregations you refer to that can barely afford to pay a livable wage, would not have tax issues to deal with and could devote more of their tithe to paying a livable wage.