This is going to be a mess. The exemption is there to put clergy who pay for their own residences on par with those who live in parish property for free, or priests who live in Church facilities.
Clergy who live in parish or Church property may be next.
As a former church board member I have seen the numbers and they can be significant in some areas. Our church in the DC suburbs of Maryland does not have a parsonage. The minister tells the church how much of pay to designate for housing. The minister uses that amount to pay mortgage or rent. I don’t know how it works for clergy who own their homes outright.
Exactly. This was a way of equalizing things for those pastors who do not live in a parsonage.
They will. And if the church it's self has a prophet chamber then it will be taxed as housing.