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Should we tax religious institutions?

Should we tax religious institutions?

  • yes

    Votes: 26 57.8%

  • no

    Votes: 19 42.2%
  • Total voters
    45
DDD said:
Was a question for I do not reside in USA.

If that is the case then rather then accumulating the donations they should spend it like the rest of us in campaigns. Rich or not it is time to treat them like any other political party that they have always been hiding in a rogue manner till today!
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Currently in the US non-profit organizations are barred from engaging in political campaigning in exchange for their non-profit status.But many do find a way around it.

501(c) organization - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
jamesrage said:
Currently in the US non-profit organizations are barred from engaging in political campaigning in exchange for their non-profit status.But many do find a way around it.

501(c) organization - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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That is what I asked in the first question.

Whatever though. Religious organizations are political parties and should be treated as such. They should be taxed for their influence over society that they benefit from donations and charity.
 
jamesrage said:
They might want to add promoting candidates sympathetic to their causes to that list.A candidate sympathetic to their cause could be one of the tools needed to serve their religion.



That might be true with small non-denominational churches. However many of those churches are part of a larger organizations.
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No, that would be against the law (though I dont have a problem with it).
 
jonny5 said:
Pretty much what I said. They cant campaign. They can still express a political opinion.
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No, they can't. There is an annual thing that a lot of fundamentalist churches do where they get up in the pulpit and directly campaign for specific political candidates, daring the IRS to yank their tax-exempt status. The IRS ought to. They are purposely violating their agreement.
 
point1percent said:
Because that money does not end up in the hands of the poor and middle class. If organized religion were run as a charity I would have no problem, but the fact that it is a big business that does relatively little charity is a problem. I argue that they do just enough charity to keep up the appearance, that's it. If you don't believe that organized religion is just big business, ask yourself why the Vatican needs a bank. And don't get me started on that. The Vatican is more corrupt than the mafia it launders money for.
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Well good luck on the U.S. government taxing the Vatican. That really isn't any of our business.

Nor is it anybody's business but mine who gets my charitable donations unless I take a tax deduction in which case the IRS does need to know that these are going to bonafide charitable organizations. And those bonafide charitable organizations--I have run one in the past--also have to be willing to open their books to show that they are not engaged in for-profit ventures if they are audited by the authorities who need to do that from time to time to keep the system honest.

But Catholic Charities is one charity that is doing amazingly good and necessary work, and it would be a tragedy to shut them down or tax away the money they are using for good. The idea that the government is smarter and does more good with the money it collects is absolutely absurd. More especially when the government swallows up at least two thirds of everything it collects just to feed the ever more bloated bureaucracy.

Charity is not a function of the federal government as the Founders envisioned it. What society does separate from the federal government is something entirely different. The federal government has no business dispensing any form of charity and neither should it be taxing those entities that provide it.
 
Cephus said:
No, they can't. There is an annual thing that a lot of fundamentalist churches do where they get up in the pulpit and directly campaign for specific political candidates, daring the IRS to yank their tax-exempt status. The IRS ought to. They are purposely violating their agreement.
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What didnt you get out of the link you posted?

it may not attempt to influence legislation as a substantial part of its activities and it may not participate in any campaign activity for or against political candidates
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Expressing a political opinion is FREE speech.
 
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