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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
FreedomFromAll said:
I occasionally do charity work and I dont want to be taxed either.
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DDD said:
I have been involved in many charitable work. Now let me look at my docs... Nope. I am still being taxed. It seems only the religious are Gods children and not us for this is obviously a double standard.
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You're not an organisation.
 
spud_meister said:
You're not an organisation.
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There are many churches owned and operated by a single person. Is that really a organisation? What exactly qualifies as a organisation? Sometimes My wife the kids and I help hand out food at the local food pantry. That is certainly more people than one preacher in a church.
 
point1percent said:
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.
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No, we shouldnt tax ANY group of people. Only individuals. Preists, Nuns, employees of the non profits all pay taxes on their income (in the US, not sure about netherlands).
 
point1percent said:
My lean is to wherever it best protects and amplifies my wealth. I'd rather the government tax these ridiculous religious organizations who do nothing for the economy, or the people, rather than the wealthy who grease the wheels of the economy. If you want jobs and a robust economy, and want to tax something, I suggest taxing the drains on the economy first and the enablers of the economy last.
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point1percent said:
Here's my take on this whole religion thing. Mind control for weak minds. It encourages dependency while robbing the people of much needed money. I've met many of these religious leaders at fundraisers and other events, and I have to tell you they are much more corrupt than the average politician or plutocrat. And all the money they capture, where do you think this money ends up? It sickens me that the wealthy are vilified and the religious leaders look squeaky clean. And what do they create? Dependency. Dependency on God and the church.

Stop putting your money and faith into things that make you more dependent on outside intervention and start putting your money and faith into making yourself more capable and productive. Shame on Reagan for involving these lunatics in politics. Now that's blowback. If we want people to become more independent and to stop looking to government for all their needs, we will have to sever this broken bond with the church, who's sole mission is to create dependency.

P.S. It's time to start putting those pedophiles and crooks in jail with the rest of the scum.
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Two points jump out at me immediately.

First, your political position, you admit, is not based on what you think is best for all the nation or its people, but only for your own selfish interests. Basically, you want government to collect the most possible taxes where you perceive the burden will least fall on you, and you do not care what or whose rights are violated to do so. I guess I can understand that, but I certainly do not agree with it.

Second, you have a deep bigotry against religion, and utter contempt for the concept of religious freedom. You'd gladly see religions fall under government control and suppression, both because you perceive this in being in your own selfish interest, and also because you do not like religion and you want to see it harmed.



Yours is truly a position that is driven by malice, bigotry, and liberal-style greed. You wear the “Very Conservative” lean dishonestly. Yours is not a conservative position at all.


Fortunately, we have, in the First Amendment, an explicit protection of religious freedom. As long as the First Amendment stands, your wishes against religious freedom will never be fulfilled. You'll need to get the Constitution amended to supersede the First Amendment, before any of your wishes can legitimately be put into place. Good luck with that.
 
a351 said:
The Catholic church in particular, for all its shortcomings, does a great deal of charity work and good within local communities.
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I actually agree, but I think religious institutions should be taxed. They should be able to deduct for the charitable work they do that benefit the community. For example, if the church runs an after school club to keep at risk kids off the street, feeds the homeless, runs a clinic........damn straight....totally tax free. I think there is some middle ground between off the hook and fleeced that can be had with churches. If a church needs opulent and ornate, they can - but not expect it to be exempt from taxation.
 
point1percent said:
Here's my take on this whole religion thing. Mind control for weak minds. It encourages dependency while robbing the people of much needed money. I've met many of these religious leaders at fundraisers and other events, and I have to tell you they are much more corrupt than the average politician or plutocrat. And all the money they capture, where do you think this money ends up? It sickens me that the wealthy are vilified and the religious leaders look squeaky clean. And what do they create? Dependency. Dependency on God and the church.

Stop putting your money and faith into things that make you more dependent on outside intervention and start putting your money and faith into making yourself more capable and productive. Shame on Reagan for involving these lunatics in politics. Now that's blowback. If we want people to become more independent and to stop looking to government for all their needs, we will have to sever this broken bond with the church, who's sole mission is to create dependency.

P.S. It's time to start putting those pedophiles and crooks in jail with the rest of the scum.
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Are you kidding me? I don't know where you get the idea that "the church" (whatever that is) does not offer an alternative to gov't dependence. Can you show us examples where "the church" encourages dependency upon the gov't (or itself), rather than encouraging self reliance, through spiritual faith, coupled with advocating for ]personally and voluntarily helping those among us suffering from problems in their lives?
 
Bob Blaylock said:
...you have a deep bigotry against religion, and utter contempt for the concept of religious freedom...
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Actually I have contempt for any organization that makes money by fraud. Which is what organized religion does. All the religious leaders ever do is find find the most effective ways to get the people to give as much money as possible. Really, does God need all the money that most people, including the poor, donate? That money does not go to God, it goes into offshore bank accounts.

As for freedom of religion, we are all free to worship whatever god we wish. But when religion is nothing other than big business hidden under the guise of a charity, then I say tax it just like every other business. Moreover, big business tries to have a positive impact on the economy and is taxed for it, while organized religion is just a sham selling a false hope, does very little to bolster the economy, yet they don't get taxed on their income.

It's time to clean house and organized religion for profit has to go.
 
ttwtt78640 said:
Are you kidding me? I don't know where you get the idea that "the church" (whatever that is) does not offer an alternative to gov't dependence. Can you show us examples where "the church" encourages dependency upon the gov't (or itself), rather than encouraging self reliance, through spiritual faith, coupled with advocating for ]personally and voluntarily helping those among us suffering from problems in their lives?
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I make the case that organized religion encourages its followers to place their faith and hope in God and trust that God will make their lives better. Isn't that remarkably similar to what the left is pushing? Become a liberal and trust us to make everything OK through big, bureaucratic government. It seems to me the people on the right are pushing for self determination, not dependency on a god or a government for a decent life. It's time the people grew a pair of balls and started taking their destiny into their own hands and let the outside forces that want to keep them dependent on something other than themselves go straight to hell.
 
I don't think any non-profit should be taxed - but I wouldn't mind if churches were treated like any other non-profit organization.
 
MoSurveyor said:
I don't think any non-profit should be taxed - but I wouldn't mind if churches were treated like any other non-profit organization.
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You'd have to show that these churches are non-profits, I think, when when you look at megachurches where the pastor has multiple houses, private planes, etc., I don't think you can call that a non-profit at all.
 
Cephus said:
You'd have to show that these churches are non-profits, I think, when when you look at megachurches where the pastor has multiple houses, private planes, etc., I don't think you can call that a non-profit at all.
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If they don't meet the standards of a non-profit then they aren't, plain and simple. I see no reason for churches to have some kind of special status in that regard.
 
MoSurveyor said:
If they don't meet the standards of a non-profit then they aren't, plain and simple. I see no reason for churches to have some kind of special status in that regard.
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Yet that's not the way it works. All you have to do is attach "church" to your name and you probably qualify because lots of people think that any church, no matter how it operates, should be tax exempt.
 
Cephus said:
Yet that's not the way it works. All you have to do is attach "church" to your name and you probably qualify because lots of people think that any church, no matter how it operates, should be tax exempt.
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That excercise of religion. Govt cant tax it.
 
jonny5 said:
That excercise of religion. Govt cant tax it.
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Only because they've agreed not to tax it. There are rules for qualifying as a religious non-profit that many churches blatantly ignore, they ought to lose their non-profit status.
 
Cephus said:
Only because they've agreed not to tax it. There are rules for qualifying as a religious non-profit that many churches blatantly ignore, they ought to lose their non-profit status.
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Im questioning the constitutionality. Congress shall make no law prohibiting the free excercise of religion. It could be argued that a tax does so.
 
jonny5 said:
Im questioning the constitutionality. Congress shall make no law prohibiting the free excercise of religion. It could be argued that a tax does so.
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No it can't. Nobody is stopping religion from operating how it wishes, but so long as religion uses public services, they ought to be obligated to pay for them, just like everyone else. Otherwise, the government is showing preferential treatment to religion, which is also unconstitutional.
 
Churches should not be taxed because constitutionally, we have a separation between church and state. That doesn't just mean keep the church out of public areas like courthouses and such, it also means keep the state out of the church.

Also, churches should not be censored. Meaning, they should be politically active if they choose.
 
DDD said:
I think they are already doing that but in a rogue way with alternative channels.
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True but you do not see no billboards in predominantly catholic areas with the Pope's Picture saying "Nancy Pelosi is a phony catholic, a good catholic doesn't ignore their catholic values" or a commercial with Kenneth Copeland in it saying God wants you to vote for a real christian vote for this guy".
 
Peter Grimm said:
Churches should not be taxed because constitutionally, we have a separation between church and state. That doesn't just mean keep the church out of public areas like courthouses and such, it also means keep the state out of the church.

Also, churches should not be censored. Meaning, they should be politically active if they choose.
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Then we aren't keeping church out of the state, as you already agreed we should. If a church wants to be politically active, let them pay their entry fee like everyone else.
 
Cephus said:
Then we aren't keeping church out of the state, as you already agreed we should. If a church wants to be politically active, let them pay their entry fee like everyone else.
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There is no entry fee to participate in democracy.
 
jamesrage said:
True but you do not see no billboards in predominantly catholic areas with the Pope's Picture saying "Nancy Pelosi is a phony catholic, a good catholic doesn't ignore their catholic values" or a commercial with Kenneth Copeland in it saying God wants you to vote for a real christian vote for this guy".
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It would be a lot better if they came up in the open and competed like the rest. Better than rogue works.
 
Peter Grimm said:
There is no entry fee to participate in democracy.
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Sure there is. In order to be part of our society you have to pay taxes. I'm an American citizen and a voter, so Uncle Sam comes along and takes money out of my check at gunpoint.
 
RabidAlpaca said:
Sure there is. In order to be part of our society you have to pay taxes. I'm an American citizen and a voter, so Uncle Sam comes along and takes money out of my check at gunpoint.
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From your location, it doesn't appear like you are part of our society. Thank you for your contributions.
 
AliHajiSheik said:
From your location, it doesn't appear like you are part of our society. Thank you for your contributions.
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Really? Because I still pay US taxes and vote, so I guess you can go **** yourself.

Your statement was just to be a dick and added zero value to this conversation, as usual.
 
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