Salaries are so low because they get their housing “free”. And if they are given housing they are less likely to have a mortgage, which is the reason most people itemize.
Yes, others with deductions get a “lower rate”, but this is a massive deduction and the impact is indeed for them to pay lower taxes on the rest of their income as well as no taxes on their housing income.
Salaries are so low because they get their housing “free”.
Their housing in most cases today is not “free”. Most protestant Christian churches no longer provide a church owned “parsonage” for the minister to live in. Ministers buy or rent a home. The housing allowance is only whatever the congregation agrees to provide.