make churches pay tax and rates

There is going to be something in the federal budget that is going to hurt just about everybody. Except religious organisations that is. Our rates are higher to offset the costs of religious organisation owned land in your local council area. Your local RSL has to pay rates. Your local sporting clubs have to pay rates. Every other not-for-profit community group has to declare any income and pay rates. Why shouldn't rates have to be paid on any property (commercial or domestic) owned by a religious organisation? I read an article from 2011 that put the value of these non-payments at $21 Billion pa. Yep, $21 Billion Dollars a year that would go a long way towards fixing our fiscal problems hasn't even been mentioned in the halls of politics.

http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/rich-men-in-the-tax-free-kingdom-of-god/desc/
"The value of non-payment of taxes and rates is difficult to calculate because religions have virtually no reporting requirements, but I have calculated it at around $21 billion per year based on significant research by Max Wallace and Adele Ferguson. Whereas the budget papers of Federal and State governments must show the cost of various exemptions given for other things, such as superannuation, there is no requirement that the revenue lost to religion be shown in any public document."

I agree that money spent by religions on feeding the poor and sheltering the homeless should be tax free. But not money spent on adventure and prayer camps for the religious youth.