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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

point1percent

Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2014
Messages
134
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Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Very Conservative
Taxing the rich is a common theme these days, but there is no talk of taxing religion. Why is that? The Catholic Church has a combined wealth that is near impossible to calculate, but rest assured it makes Bill Gates look like just another poor guy. They pay no taxes but rake in billions. Where does all that money go? Do you really think it is making its way back to the people, especially the poor? And why does God need money? Surely anyone who can create a universe doesn't need money. Seems like organized religion is a goldmine that could be used to save the poor and the middle class.
 
The Catholic church in particular, for all its shortcomings, does a great deal of charity work and good within local communities. The status quo is just fine with me when it comes to taxation on non-profit organizations.
 
No, I don't believe they should be taxed... however if we're taxing everyone I don't see why they should be exempt.
 
Charities should not be taxed, just as donations to charity shouldn't be taxed. Religious institutions should be exempt from taxation as long as they do charitable work.
 
Charities should not be taxed, just as donations to charity shouldn't be taxed. Religious institutions should be exempt from taxation as long as they do charitable work.

At a pinch their charitable work can be tax free but the perpetuation of fraudulently shystering 10% of your money should not be.
 
Since they are using public services, their property should be taxed to help pay for the services used at the local level, to help fund roads, police and fire services but, at the federal level, no since they are correctly treated an income tax exempt charitable organization.
 
Definitely taxed. They are a private organization that makes profits. The catholic CEO, for instance, lives in a big palace in the center of Rome. Just because they also make charitable contributions doesn't mean they don't also make profits. That's like saying "Well, Goldman-Sachs donated money to charity this year, so their entire organization should be tax free."

We're all paying taxes, they should too. Fair is fair.
 
At a pinch their charitable work can be tax free but the perpetuation of fraudulently shystering 10% of your money should not be.

No one is forced to donate to a church, if people don't want to be "shystered" then they shouldn't donate.
 
The only time I believe Churches should be taxed is when they derive income from something that is in direct competition with the private sector. Specifically one city I used to live in had a huge church with a huge convention center system, catering etc. The Church paid no taxes on any level. The competition in the private sector had to pay significant taxes on several levels.
 
Yes. Tax them. They are a business and they reap many benefits from the tax dollars of others.

I don't have any problems with tax write-offs for charitable donations, and if a specific church donates enough to negate paying any taxes at all then fine, but I'd bet dollars to donuts most churches don't donate that much money and I know without question plenty operate at a "profit".

Churches should not get a free pass just because they're a church.

They should be held to the same accounting and financial standards as everyone else.

Tax them.
 
No one is forced to donate to a church, if people don't want to be "shystered" then they shouldn't donate.

That all depends on how one chooses to look at it; the church gets a benefit from public roads, police and fire services, yet pays no taxes to help support them, thus they are being supported by all that are forced to pay such taxation - whether they belong to that, or any, church.
 
No one is forced to donate to a church, if people don't want to be "shystered" then they shouldn't donate.

Nobody is forced to buy into a pyramid selling scheme. They are still illegal. That's why it's called fraud rather than theft.
 
Definitely taxed. They are a private organization that makes profits. The catholic CEO, for instance, lives in a big palace in the center of Rome. Just because they also make charitable contributions doesn't mean they don't also make profits. That's like saying "Well, Goldman-Sachs donated money to charity this year, so their entire organization should be tax free."

We're all paying taxes, they should too. Fair is fair.

Do you feel that all non-profits make profits?
 
That all depends on how one chooses to look at it; the church gets a benefit from public roads, police and fire services, yet pays no taxes to help support them, thus they are being supported by all that are forced to pay such taxation - whether they belong to that, or any, church.

The use of the roads with a church would come from the congregation, who do pay tax. The cost of police and fire could come from the taxes of the burglar or arsonist.

Why should charities be taxed? Individuals involved are still taxed, and you could argue the benefits from charities outweighs the costs.
 
Do you feel that all non-profits make profits?

Most of them do. They have employees and CEOs that make a very substantial amount of cash, and a lot of the profits go back into the organization. Take charities like the Cancer Fund of America who takes in 81 million but only pays out 5% to the cause they allegedly support.

America's Worst Charities

I mean just look at this guy:

pope-benedict-XVI.jpg


He's sitting on a golden throne and has more bling than a rapper.
 
The use of the roads with a church would come from the congregation, who do pay tax. The cost of police and fire could come from the taxes of the burglar or arsonist.

Why should charities be taxed? Individuals involved are still taxed, and you could argue the benefits from charities outweighs the costs.

So are individuals not involved. Are you advocating that all charitable organizations not pay any taxes - or only religious charities?
 
So are individuals not involved. Are you advocating that all charitable organizations not pay any taxes - or only religious charities?

:shrug: Statistics say 40% of Americans attend church weekly, I'm sure their taxes more than cover any costs the churches place on society. I'm saying all charities should be tax exempt. I don't believe in automatic tax exemption for all religious organisations, but if they act as a charity, then they should be exempt.
 
Charities should not be taxed, just as donations to charity shouldn't be taxed. Religious institutions should be exempt from taxation as long as they do charitable work.

I do not mind them not paying taxes on their charitable contributions, but absolutely no taxation for everything because some organizations make some charitable contributions is ludicrous IMO. They should have to report their charitable contributions, as well as be allowed reasonable amounts of overhead related to these charitable expenditures. Otherwise income gained for a "church" that is not directed towards charity and charitable expenditures should be taxed.

* I use quotations around "church" thinking of megachurches, tv evangelists, prosperity churches and the like - those who make millions and live an opulent lifestyle riding the gullibility gravy train
 
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I do not mind them not paying taxes on their charitable contributions, but absolutely no taxation for everything because some organizations make some charitable contributions is ludicrous IMO. They should have to report their charitable contributions, as well as be allowed reasonable amounts of overhead related to these charitable expenditures. Otherwise income gained for a "church" that is not directed towards charity and charitable expenditures should be taxed.

I'd prefer to have it as easy a possible for charities to be up and running. I think it'd be better for organisations with tax exemption to make their expenditure public and easily accessible, and let people decide if they deserve donations or not, than to make a complicated system than could discourage honest charities from being established.
 
Taxing the rich is a common theme these days, but there is no talk of taxing religion. Why is that? The Catholic Church has a combined wealth that is near impossible to calculate, but rest assured it makes Bill Gates look like just another poor guy. They pay no taxes but rake in billions. Where does all that money go? Do you really think it is making its way back to the people, especially the poor? And why does God need money? Surely anyone who can create a universe doesn't need money. Seems like organized religion is a goldmine that could be used to save the poor and the middle class.

I don't have a problem with it. That way Churches would be free to become politically active. The reason they at least aren't supposed to now is being non-political is a condition of tax exemption.
 
Most of them do. They have employees and CEOs that make a very substantial amount of cash, and a lot of the profits go back into the organization. Take charities like the Cancer Fund of America who takes in 81 million but only pays out 5% to the cause they allegedly support.

America's Worst Charities

I mean just look at this guy:

pope-benedict-XVI.jpg


He's sitting on a golden throne and has more bling than a rapper.
That's an interesting site. I think I'm going to bookmark it. BTW: Here's a close figure for the US Catholic Church: US Catholic Church a $170 billion business
 
I am inclined to tax all organizations. The lines between profits and non-profits are blurred and one of the best ways to make a ton of money is to start a non[profit. The name is a misnomer. And all of the IRS 501-c-3 or whatever codes that allow tax exemptions give a powerful tools to corrupt governments to misuse power, as we have seen. Not only should churches be taxed but unions, think-tanks, non-profits, etc. should be taxed. The government should not be subsidizing this stuff by granting tax exemptions.

It was probably a great idea but it is so abused by this point.
 
I'd prefer to have it as easy a possible for charities to be up and running. I think it'd be better for organisations with tax exemption to make their expenditure public and easily accessible, and let people decide if they deserve donations or not, than to make a complicated system than could discourage honest charities from being established.

Why not make it that all charitable money given out is tax free and that which is kept as profits is taxed? That would better motivate the organizations to give more to charity. As of now, people who run charities tend to be extremely rich, or become extremely rich off it, while only actually donating a few % to anyone in need.
 
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