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I suggerst the religious portions of church property such as the chapel, the rectory and the community hall be exempt from taxation. All the rest of the church's business related activites should be taxed the same as any other business. Exempt what is in the Realm of God and tax what is in the Realm of Mammon.
That is basically the current law. If a religious institution runs a for profit business it is taxed as any other for profit business.
Since everyone knows that all religion is big business, shouldn't all churches and religious institutions be taxed?
I really have to take exception to this. How can letting someone keep their own money, cost someone else anything?
People earn a living, and they are taxed. They donate some of their AFTER taxed money to their church. Why should the government tax it again?
It really confuses me, why people actually believe that everything belongs to the government and that if the government LETS someone keep their money, it's costing the government.
BTW, have you read the constitution? Do you know that in all actuality, our tax money should NOT be used to give to other nations, should not be given to other citizens because they don't earn their own living, should not be doled out to the states for education, etc etc... (Education is a states issue anyways.)
In fact, of ALL the money that is spent by our government, if they ONLY spent our tax dollars on things that they are SUPPOSED to spend it on, we would be able to pay off the national debt in out lifetime, AND lower the national income tax. I guess it's too much to hope for though, congress cannot even pass a balanced budget amendment, let alone keep from wasting our money on whatever they please.
All charities are already tax exempt, so a fair tax paid by churches would have no effect on them...I say they should pay property tax just like all other businesses.
Agreed.
The OP's info is pretty astounding when you think about it and I say this a Christian and regular church-goer.
[quote=nmnita;24793262]gee, can we think of any other ways to get a few extra tax money? I wonder if all those who want to tax religion and charities have any idea how much is given to help those in need? What about the food banks churches run, the thrift shops and what about the church dsicrisionary funds that many have to help people in need pay doctors bills, untilities etc?
Because it is easily and routinely abused. Consider the proliferation of phony churches as a tax dodge. An IRS attorney cites a brothel "church," where sisterly love is offered to male parishioners in exchange for donations. In Hardenburgh, New York several years ago, 235 of the 239 property owners in that town were granted religious tax exemption because the properties of the owners were made branches of the mail-order "Universal Life Church." In Wisconsin, hotels, pay parking lots, farms, and communion wafer bakeries are among the church holdings that are tax exempt. Overall, at least $4.2 billion in tax-exempt religious property now exists in that state alone. And the monumental moral corruption of the Catholic Church as evidenced by the many sexual abuse scandals is particularly galling when one contemplates the vast (and covert) wealth of that particular enterprise.
It's a racket, and it costs taxpayers even more money to monitor, uncover and fight the abuse it invites - none of which would be necessary if such unenforceable loopholes in our tax code never existed.
Because it costs you and me billions. We are not talking chump change here. Consider that for every tax dollar a religious organization does not pay, you and I pay it on its behalf. Many are among the wealthiest organizations in the world: by 1971, the amount of real and personal property owned by U.S. churches was approx. $110 billion. In New York City alone, the amount was $3 billion in 1989. A 1986 estimate showed religious income in that year of approx. $100 billion, or about five times the income of the five largest corporations in the U.S. All tax free.
Because it is fundamentally unjust. Not all religious organizations enjoys tax breaks, only those our government deems legitimate. Is government in the business of deciding what is or is not a legitimate religion? Doesn't every instance where government makes such a determination amount to "respecting an establishment of religion?" Should the taxes of non-religious citizens be higher to subsidize every church, synagogue, and mosque in town? Should working women pay taxes to subsidize clergy and other employees' paychecks, when such positions are overwhelmingly - and legally - restricted to men?
The current scheme is unfair and unnecessary. Churches can and should pay taxes, just like everybody else.
Because it makes no sense. To deny that tax exemption is a meaningful public subsidy is to put forth an absurd proposition: just consider what your personal financial picture would look like if you never paid any taxes. Yet it is exactly this type of ludicrous logic on which religious tax exemptions have been upheld time and again by our courts and congresses
On a recent trip through the deep south,Ala,Miss. La. the wife and i were astounded at how many small churches there were ,you could hardly drive a mile without seeing 2 or 3 of these small churches, we came to the conclusion that it probably had something to do with the tax exempt status of churches and people were just using a small building on their property as a church to get out of paying taxes.
The IRS is pretty tough on people who try to do that.
You'd have to look at when the church was established. Historically in rural areas churches werem to our standards, pretty close together. The reason was that travel on what were then mud roads was difficult and in farming areas you couldn't take all day to go back and forth, there were still chores to do.
Also, churches would split apart for whatever reason, and another congregation would form
I've been in churches here in Southern MD, mainly Black congregations, that would seat, at most, twenty people. The next church down the road is a mile or so away.
Since everyone knows that all religion is big business, shouldn't all churches and religious institutions be taxed?
Yes. Without question, religious organizations ought to be taxed. They should be allowed to deduct bona fide charitable work (homeless shelters and so forth) but taxed on everything else at the corporate rate.
Or we could shrink government down to a size such that it can be drowned in a bathtub. Thereby eliminating the insatiable need for ever-greater tax revenue. Problem solved.
Yes. Without question, religious organizations ought to be taxed. They should be allowed to deduct bona fide charitable work (homeless shelters and so forth) but taxed on everything else at the corporate rate.
Why? The money that they receive for the most part, is money that has already been taxed?
And, once again if churches are taxed then, to be fair, all non-profits should be taxed. That's United Way, Red Cross, Scouting, the YMCA, Boy's and Girl's Clubs, the Masons, the American Legion and VFW, the Naval Academy, West Point, the Air Force Academy, Courthouses various musuems and on and on. How much money, in the aggregate, do those organizations "cost" the government at whatever level.
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