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We as American has long been told that we serperate church and state...
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights that expressly prohibits the United States Congress from making laws "respecting an establishment of religion" or that prohibit the free exercise of religion, laws that infringe the freedom of speech, infringe the freedom of the press, limit the right to peaceably assemble, or limit the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Then why does the United states violate it's own constitution by giving churches tax breaks? Tax-free Donations: Donations to churches function just like the tax-free donations one might make to any non-profit organization or community group: whatever a person donates is subtracted from their total income before taxes are calculated. This is supposed to encourage people to give more and better support to such groups, which presumably are providing benefits to the community that the government now does not need to be responsible for.
Tax-Free Land: Exemptions from property taxes represent an even larger benefit to churches — there may be as much as $100 billion dollars in untaxed church property in the United States. This creates a problem, according to some, because the tax exemption amounts to a gift of money to the churches at the expense of tax payers. For every dollar which the government cannot collect on church property, it must make up for by collecting it from citizens; thus all citizens are forced to indirectly support churches, even those they do not belong to and may even oppose. Isn't this a direct violation of the constitution?
The tax exemption is for all religions and it is to prevent the government from controlling religion through taxation. Some might feel that this has gone too far, but it was actually a part of the idea of separating church and state. Protecting religions from government and vice versa.
The tax exemption is for all religions and it is to prevent the government from controlling religion through taxation. Some might feel that this has gone too far, but it was actually a part of the idea of separating church and state. Protecting religions from government and vice versa.
And it's a fine line at times, but overall it's a good reason to do so.
The TBN Salaries
In 1998, the Crouches showed a combined income of nearly $600,000... (OC Weekly) The Crouches occupy two of three seats on the TBN board of directors and earning six-figure incomes. He is paid $159,500 a year as president, while she gets $165,100 as vice president, IRS records show.
“Crouch’s earnings went from $159,500 in 1997 to $262,915 the following year. Jan, the organization’s vice president, also received a big raise. Her earnings more than doubled, going from $159,500 to $321,375 during the same time period”. (Mike Oppenheimer. Let Us Reason Ministries).
According to 2001 IRS income tax statements, (990 forms)
“Paul Crouch, president of California-based Trinity Christian Center of Santa Ana, received $403,700. His wife, Janice Crouch, earned $347,500 as the vice president for the organization, which broadcasts sermons nationally on the Trinity Broadcasting Network”. (www.rickross.com)
Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church 30,000 people endure punishing traffic on the narrow roads leading to Lakewood Church every weekend to hear Pastor Joel Osteen deliver upbeat messages of hope. A youthful-looking 42-year-old with a ready smile, he reassures the thousands who show up at each of his five weekend services that "God has a great future in store for you." ... Osteen's best-seller, Your Best Life Now, has sold 2.5 million copies since its publication last fall.... In his book, Osteen talks about how his wife, Victoria, a striking blonde who dresses fashionably, wanted to buy a fancy house some years ago, before the money rolled in. He thought it wasn't possible. "But Victoria had more faith," he wrote. "She convinced me we could live in an elegant home...and several years later, it did come to pass." ... Osteen's flourishing Lakewood enterprise brought in $55 million in contributions last year, four times the 1999 amount, church officials say”. (Earthly Empires, Businessweek.com)
John Hagee
“Since Hagee and his wife, Diana Hagee, founded GETV 25 years ago, the organization has gone from a back-room operation broadcasting Sunday sermons to San Antonio area viewers to a 50,000-square-foot multimedia studio broadcasting to 127 television stations and 82 radio stations nationwide...
.... According to the 990 forms for GETV, the organization in 2001 netted $12.3 million from donations, $4.8 million in profit from the sales of books and tapes, and an additional $1.1 million from various other sources, including rental income.
As the nonprofit organization's president, Hagee drew $540,000 in compensation, as well as an additional $302,005 in compensation for his position as president of Cornerstone Church, according to GETV's tax statements.
and the list goes on and on it's time to tax these scumbags maybe then the goverment would not need the "regular" taxpayers to fund corprate welfare... http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Wolves/greedy.htm
Do you also think that all tax free organiations shpould be remove from that status? all charities and even the political parties ?Their not even talked about in the constitution. Remember that Henry the 8th and many of the rich lords of england actually robbed the holding of the church in just this way.Many of the present rich in england acually got their wealth from stealing from the catholic church.They continued this by destroying most of the catholic churches in the country even to teh point of melting the gold statues etc, That IMO is why the founding fathers meant to gaurd the church form the state in their writings. Not the other way around.Certainly we have always seen the first thign a dictator like Hitler or Stalin did was attack the churches. II would be careful because I believe that the courts would uphold the churches but look very close at so many foundations and other exempt organizations'including colleges.
Because its the law as it stands. It would be much easier to have foundations and other non-taxed pay than churches because of the constitution anyway. Most people don't want to tax them because then things like the arts;NPR and many foundations that do alot of goosd would disapear quickly. Most likely they would move their money to other countries that charge no tax anyway.There absolutely is no polictical will to do it becausethe government would thewn have to stepin and fund many.I mean can you see the political suicide in txaing the salvation army;red cross ;scolarship programs and the kennedy center; teaching hospitals or environmantal foundations.How about the fiood bank in your area?No way that is going to be popular.
Plain and simple televangilist are predators exploiting the law to get rich and screw as many people as they can in the process.
___ Trinity Foundation has been monitoring the activities of these "men of God" since 1973. For the first 15 years, our efforts were mostly concerned with analysis of the listening audience and its demographic makeup, the doctrinal positions of the broadcasters and the percentage of broadcast time they devoted to raising money.
___ We found there are over 500 televangelists and about 350 religious television stations that are members of the National Religious Broadcasters Association. There are also approximately 750 radio evangelists on 1,550 religious radio stations who are NRB members. There are many more, such as Robert Schuller, Robert Tilton and Gene Scott, who are not members. Our estimate of the total number of television and radio evangelists in the United States is 2,500.
___ We found these TV and radio evangelists are vying for a donor pool of about five million people. Fifty-five percent of these people are elderly women. Another 35 percent is made up of what we call the desperation pool. These are the poorest and neediest members of society.-- those whose child has AIDS, whose spouse has cancer, those about to be homeless, those who are experiencing the worst kinds of suffering. Some are so needy that they often send in their food stamps or their wedding rings. The remaining 10 percent are those who might be classified as upper-middle class, who want a spiritual justification for their greed.
___
Trinity Foundation (http://www.trinityfi.org/trinity/investi.html - broken link)
Because its the law as it stands. It would be much easier to have foundations and other non-taxed pay than churches because of the constitution anyway. Most people don't want to tax them because then things like the arts;NPR and many foundations that do alot of goosd would disapear quickly. Most likely they would move their money to other countries that charge no tax anyway.There absolutely is no polictical will to do it becausethe government would thewn have to stepin and fund many.I mean can you see the political suicide in txaing the salvation army;red cross ;scolarship programs and the kennedy center; teaching hospitals or environmantal foundations.How about the fiood bank in your area?No way that is going to be popular.
Property taxes aren't going to make churches go away. If anything, maybe the thought of paying property taxes would convince them to put a little more money into charity work than building giant cathedrals. The thought of having to pay property taxes might even convince universities to think twice before they spend money on coliseums instead of classrooms.
Another thing that might help is property taxes on 'non-profit' hospitals. Since they can't keep their profits in cash, many use them to expand instead of cutting prices or writing off debts for people in need. If they had to start paying some property taxes on the expansions, they might decide to perform some charity instead of pursuing the revenue to build their next pet project.
Last edited by sterlinggirl; 11-28-2008 at 12:02 PM..
Last night i sent away for a free prayer mat and some miracle oil .. The preacher said if i donated 100 bucks i go to the front of the line to get to heaven . Everyone knows these guys are con men why can't the be stopped?
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