Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
In which case they wouldn't have anything to worry about...I think people are looking more to rein in the Jimmy Swaggart types (is that the right person I'm thinking of?)
Yours seems like my kind of church, btw. Down to earth, humble and giving what they can.
Exactly. If a church can legitimately show zero profits, and many (probably most) could, then there's no need to worry about taxation.
I've strayed from religion (although not so much from belief), and one of the reasons is the business/social club aspect of it all that I find so distasteful. It cuts across all denominations in this country.
Again, I don't like the idea of taxing religion per se, but I think that requiring these churches to file the same tax returns that any company does could be a very good thing for society and the churches themselves.
I hate to say it but yes. I quit going to church close to 5 years ago b/c I got tired of all the crap that goes on. We are starting back b/c our son wants to go but I still think that most churches and church going folks are not what they should be based on the Bible. If they had to pay taxes, maybe they would work on doing what they should be doing and not so much about the show.
used to go to church, Sunday school teacher, youth group advisor...brought my son up in the church...but...while I believe the Bible is a very good book to live life by....church going folks are definately not what they should be, and I've found out, they are the ones with the biggest problems...and if it works for them, fine, but that holier then thou attitude, is less then attractive and very hypacrytical...
I'm with you, Austonsmom, they should definately have to pay taxes...
I personally think, because man is so ruled by power, religion was invented to control the masses, way back when...and religion has also stagnated man's intellectual ability to reason and ask questions...I'm not talking about faith...but religions....
just my 2 cents
Last edited by cremebrulee; 07-02-2008 at 11:31 AM..
Oh, definitely tax those guys. What a bunch of phonies and the sheople who send them millions of dollars a year. C'mon people. To quote Bono "The God I believe in isn't short on cash".
See, that's where the problem begins though...how do "those guys" differentiate from the "good guys"?
The only way I can think of is profit.
Whatever isn't given away or used in legit expenses, is profit; and real estate is taxed by the locality (but then tax deductible like a business).
Because even though a church is known as a "contributor to the community" (i.e. giving the poor) they shouldn't be permitted to take $$ out of the regular citizen's pocketbook because of their tax exempt status (the megachurch in our town costs us nearly a million dollars a year in tax ratables, which must be made up by the citizens and other businesses. It adds up to around $60 a year per household. If they sent around a fund-raiser envelope, would you donate $60 a year to a church you don't attend? Add to that the deficit in taxes for however many churches you have in your town...)
church going folks are definately not what they should be, and I've found out, they are the ones with the biggest problems
Agree wholeheartedly (sadly). It sometimes makes me want to search out one of those bumper stickers I saw some time ago: "Please God, save me from your followers."
Agree wholeheartedly (sadly). It sometimes makes me want to search out one of those bumper stickers I saw some time ago: "Please God, save me from your followers."
Ever since my son was little, I've searched out and studied different religions...and boy oh boy, while there are a few really great people...some of them are definately a few cards short of a deck.
Yanno what bothers me the most, is, that they are so money hungry...
ok, for instance, there is a store down the street from me, and it is run by a particular religion....and they absolutely rape all the people that come in there as far as pricing...and they can sleep at night, and mind you, they are the only store in the vicinity of mostly retired people on a fixed income...and they've been doing this for years?????? I don't understand them....and believe me, it's not every one...but some of them, are really really bad people, controlling and actually believe they are better then most folks....sheesh?????
Great BBC clip on a Congressional investigation into these televangelists who lead lavish lifestyles subsidized by the tax breaks their organizations get.
I have to ask, isn't it time America start taxing all churches in the same way that it taxes businesses of a similar size? Either that, or taxes on business should be eliminated. I fail to see the difference between a church, especially the kind portrayed in this special, and an ordinary business.
Hold the phone. Are you really talking about taxing the humble Episcopal church I attend, where the priest makes $50,000 a year while the congregation gives 200,000 yearly to help the poor? Are you really talking about taxing an organization that can barely scratch up the money to fix its roof, yet can always find the money to take in homeless people and tutor high school dropouts so they can earn their GEDs. Are you talking about taxing an organization that sends a weekly delegation to fix the homes of the poor, take meals to shut-ins, and take baby clothes to the local charity hospital?
You must be young. Otherwise you would know that far, far more churches operate humbly and in the way I detailed above. The ones you rail about are the glaring exception rather than the rule. For no business would operate along these lines, and no CEO would work this hard for that kind of pay.
Hold the phone. Are you really talking about taxing the humble Episcopal church I attend, where the priest makes $50,000 a year while the congregation gives 200,000 yearly to help the poor? Are you really talking about taxing an organization that can barely scratch up the money to fix its roof, yet can always find the money to take in homeless people and tutor high school dropouts so they can earn their GEDs. Are you talking about taxing an organization that sends a weekly delegation to fix the homes of the poor, take meals to shut-ins, and take baby clothes to the local charity hospital?
You must be young. Otherwise you would know that far, far more churches operate humbly and in the way I detailed above. The ones you rail about are the glaring exception rather than the rule. For no business would operate along these lines, and no CEO would work this hard for that kind of pay.
We're talking about the ones who are not working Christians, who feel because they go to church every week, they're better then everyone else. There are people within the churches that do take their faith very seriously, but not nearly as many as should. No, we are not talking about the people who do all of what you've mentioned above, and more, as there are always worker bees, and queen bees...yanno?
...there is a store down the street from me, and it is run by a particular religion....and they absolutely rape all the people that come in there as far as pricing...
And I'd like to clarify that I don't mean to tax with relation to whether they're "working Christians" or "Coca Cola Priests" or whatever. I don't believe we should judge what's a "real" church or what is the "real" God. Who could possibly judge that? Certainly not the IRS.
I just think taxing profit and real estate (which would be deductible, just like for the rest of us) would be fair.
I think churches should be able to trade "virtue points", much as environmentally-sensitive companies engage in "cap and trade" policies with pollution.
For example, if a Catholic diocese has a priest who is convicted of child molestation, they should be able to "buy" virtue points from a nearby Mormon group which has a spotless record on non-child-abuse for, say, the past decade -- and thus not have the church taxed, or closed down and burned.
In the same way, televangelist ministries who embezzle old people's life savings through clever scams, and are convicted of this, should be able to clear their name by making substantial donations to Catholic hospitals or charities, in return for excess virtue points available form those worthy interests.
There's a better way to do the religion business. Maybe it's time for a Fate-Based Initiative.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
