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Expect there to be a ton of screaming not only on this forum, but in the pastor community in general on this one. And you know, it would not be such an issue IF that community could have controlled the excess that some members showed by having multiple mansions and calling them pastoral residences.
What I like about this as the FFRF brings it up the chain of courts to SCOTUS is that there very likely will be rulings that come out of it that will enable it to litigate the whole church tax exemption thing.
But one step at a time.
Oh, I know, some will call the FFRF bullies, and some will call them meddling. This should get interesting.
Expect there to be a ton of screaming not only on this forum, but in the pastor community in general on this one. And you know, it would not be such an issue IF that community could have controlled the excess that some members showed by having multiple mansions and calling them pastoral residences.
What I like about this as the FFRF brings it up the chain of courts to SCOTUS is that there very likely will be rulings that come out of it that will enable it to litigate the whole church tax exemption thing.
But one step at a time.
Oh, I know, some will call the FFRF bullies, and some will call them meddling. This should get interesting.
At least it will put the shamers to task...You know, the likes of Hinn, Meyers, Olsteen, Prince, etc...It's interesting that their I'll like to quote Paul so much and nobody asks them why they are not living like Paul lived...Working as a tentmaker 6 DAYS a week and preaching in the Synagogues on Sundays...
This seems to be more about the lack of a cap on the exemption than on the exemption itself. It's an overreach that a ministry could pay a minister thousands per month so long as it's the fair rental value of some mansion. Since various ministries have foolishly fought to save this open-ended capless exemption, they may end up losing it altogether.
Expect there to be a ton of screaming not only on this forum, but in the pastor community in general on this one. And you know, it would not be such an issue IF that community could have controlled the excess that some members showed by having multiple mansions and calling them pastoral residences.
What I like about this as the FFRF brings it up the chain of courts to SCOTUS is that there very likely will be rulings that come out of it that will enable it to litigate the whole church tax exemption thing.
But one step at a time.
Oh, I know, some will call the FFRF bullies, and some will call them meddling. This should get interesting.
Yes. They're bullies. I get a housing allowance because I make about $27k/year. My job requires me to live in a house next to the church. I am not able to buy a home due to the nature of my job. I serve the church and the community.
But the article makes an interesting point. Until now, we could not file lawsuits to complain about the tax breaks that others get. This will open a floodgate for all kinds of lawsuits against certain organizations that the moonbats find sacred.
Yes. They're bullies. I get a housing allowance because I make about $27k/year. My job requires me to live in a house next to the church. I am not able to buy a home due to the nature of my job. I serve the church and the community.
But the article makes an interesting point. Until now, we could not file lawsuits to complain about the tax breaks that others get. This will open a floodgate for all kinds of lawsuits against certain organizations that the moonbats find sacred.
I know people making less, and do not have a housing allowance. Yet you complain about bullies. Try working a minimum wage job with no housing allowance.
I hope your free housing stops being free. All perks are taxed for the rest of us.
I know people making less, and do not have a housing allowance. Yet you complain about bullies. Try working a minimum wage job with no housing allowance.
I hope your free housing stops being free. All perks are taxed for the rest of us.
So jealousy means that instead of one getting a tax break, no one does? Is that it? That's what liberalism teaches? That we're all equally unhappy and equally poor?
Yes. They're bullies. I get a housing allowance because I make about $27k/year. My job requires me to live in a house next to the church. I am not able to buy a home due to the nature of my job. I serve the church and the community.
But the article makes an interesting point. Until now, we could not file lawsuits to complain about the tax breaks that others get. This will open a floodgate for all kinds of lawsuits against certain organizations that the moonbats find sacred.
It sounds like you live in a parsonage owned by the church. I'm not sure this would affect you even if the case were won by the plaintiffs--this case seems to be limited to the uncapped tax exemption that clergy have on homes that they personally own.
When I was active duty military, we often (not always) had an option to live in base family housing or live off base in a rented home or a purchased home. If we lived off base, we received a fairly modest housing allowance (explicitly calculated to be only 75% of our estimated housing cost). That housing allowance for living off-base was tax-exempted, but the fact that it was only a specific amount essentially equated to a capped exemption.
Yes. They're bullies. I get a housing allowance because I make about $27k/year. My job requires me to live in a house next to the church. I am not able to buy a home due to the nature of my job. I serve the church and the community.
But the article makes an interesting point. Until now, we could not file lawsuits to complain about the tax breaks that others get. This will open a floodgate for all kinds of lawsuits against certain organizations that the moonbats find sacred.
You are dodging the issue that there is no cap on the allowance and it is therefore abused mightily by some ministries. And that various religious organizations are foolishly defending this open-ended benefit out of a combination of greed (in the case of those large ministries who wish to park their leaders in palatial estates) and ideology (in the case of those whose persecution narrative forces them to see this as a bogus slippery-slope concern).
I personally have no issue with your housing allowance as I suspect it provides modest / adequate housing for couple with children and a family that size certainly can't live on $27k a year by itself.
As to the matter of standing, the FFRF had to jump through some hoops to gain it and they now have it because they have jumped through those hoops. Nothing has been "opened" that wasn't already there, they have simply worked their way around a technicality so that they are now able to present a case which still must stand or fall on its merits.
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