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So, why should I be forced to pay taxes to support your belief system?
Actually, you're not paying taxes at all for these organizations' existence, for they are not receiving tax dollars unless they're providing services in kind. But if we take your clumsy argument to heart, why should you be forced to pay taxes for any of these other things?
The Boy Scouts
The American Cancer Society
The Red Cross
The New York Philharmonic
The Sierra Club
Boys and Girls Clubs of America
Drum Corps International
The Urban League
United Cerebral Palsy
The American Civil Liberties Union
And the list goes on and on and on. All these organizations rake in literally millions of dollars through either contributions or the selling of goods and services, many of them provide services that are not universally enjoyed by all Americans, and none of these organizations are taxed. Which ones are getting the thumbs up? Which ones are getting the thumbs down? Because right now, your sole criterion is whether or not you agree with the organization's aims, a pretty arbitrary thing right there.
What's more, you evidently don't understand the first thing about either taxation or profit and loss. A corporation is taxed solely on profits, what it clears after it has paid all its expenses. A non-profit, whether it is a church or something else, typically has nothing left over after all expenses are paid. And, if there is a surplus, that money goes into a tax-sheltered trust or foundation as safeguard against future shortfalls or unanticipated crises. And are you prepared to deal with the social costs that will inevitably arise when those organizations go away?
The money they receive isn't donated to them it is money earned in the course of business.
Tell me, do they have a jar next to the register to collect change to help the needy like the one near me has? would you like to see THOSE donations taxed also?
7-11s actually do sometimes have jars for different causes.
Church is a form of business, however you want to deny it. It's sort of a magic show for people who never learned to think straight.
7-11s actually do sometimes have jars for different causes.
And you think they should tax that money?
Quote:
Originally Posted by djacques
Church is a form of business, however you want to deny it. It's sort of a magic show for people who never learned to think straight.
Yes, they are businesses, non profitable ones.
06-18-2012, 09:08 AM
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Exempt their charitable operations (if they have any). Make them pay taxes on everything else.
We wouldn't let any other business get out of paying all taxes just because they happen to make the occasional charitable contribution.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Darkatt
The money they receive isn't donated to them it is money earned in the course of business.
Good point. The parishioner can get a tax deduction for making that "donation" to their local church. Guess that kind of puts a hole in the "the money has already been taxed" argument...
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.
Especially since many churches are in business.
Quote:
"The Vatican has large investments with the Rothschilds of Britain, France and America, with the Hambros Bank, with the Credit Suisse in London and Zurich. In the United States it has large investments with the Morgan Bank, the Chase-Manhattan Bank, the First National Bank of New York, the Bankers Trust Company, and others. The Vatican has billions of shares in the most powerful international corporations such as Gulf Oil, Shell, General Motors, Bethlehem Steel, General Electric, International Business Machines, T.W.A., etc. At a conservative estimate, these amount to more than 500 million dollars in the U.S.A. alone.
Quote:
"In a statement published in connection with a bond prospectus, the Boston archdiocese listed its assets at Six Hundred and Thirty-five Million ($635,891,004), which is 9.9 times its liabilities. This leaves a net worth of Five Hundred and Seventy-one million dollars ($571,704,953). It is not difficult to discover the truly astonishing wealth of the church, once we add the riches of the twenty-eight archdioceses and 122 dioceses of the U.S.A., some of which are even wealthier than that of Boston.
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