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PeopleUnited
2009 Nov 17, 4:47pm
Eh,
Ever read the part that says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...."?
FREE exercise thank you!
tatupu70
2009 Nov 17, 8:33pm
FREE exercise thank you
That word free in that sentence does not refer to money. It means the "open" exercise of religion. And taxing all religions equally wouldn't violate that part of the Constitution.
I agree--the Catholic church is basically a corporation....
Bap33
2009 Nov 18, 7:41am
would the fact that churches get their money from free gifts, from already-taxed incomes, matter? They do not sell anything for the money. The gifts are not a fee for service. The money is just a free hand-out to the church.
I would support removing the ability to wrtie-off all chartible donations. I feel the gift should be a free gift without any gain monitarily for the person giving the gift. I also feel the gift was taxed once, and once is enough. The churches "income" is just free gifts. The intrest drawn on the money, and any other holdings that result in income for the church, should be taxed as income. That is fair.
Allowing the State to support any church is a very bad idea, because there are some very bad churches with very bad people in them that will use such actions in a negative manner.
Large churches and charities invest much of the contributions they receive. They make money on those investments and as far as I know don't pay taxes on the returns as long as the investment is under the umbrella of a non-profit institution. If invest my after tax money in the stock market and make money I am expected to pay capital gains on any profits I incur and so should they.
PeopleUnited
2009 Nov 18, 3:57pm
FREE exercise thank you
That word free in that sentence does not refer to money. It means the “open†exercise of religion. And taxing all religions equally wouldn’t violate that part of the Constitution.
I agree–the Catholic church is basically a corporation….
Really? REALLY?????
Can something be free and taxed at the same time?
Kinda like you are free to not buy health insurance, but we are going to tax you to death if you don't.
Gotta love where America is headed if this is the kind of ideas people are spouting.
Whatever happened to Grassley's review of the "preachers" who were paying themselves millions and shitting in 23k marble toilets [link below]? Taxing those assholes would be useful, but taxing the Salvation Army, which is a church, seems a little too much.
I have always wondered why churches have never been asked to pay their fair share in taxes. I know they do a lot of good but they also use their money for self serving reasons as well. Any organization deemed to be a religious organization is exempt from paying taxes to the government the same as any charitable organization. Religious organization bring in billions of dollars each year yet pay nothing back to Uncle Sam. I think it is time that they be required to pay taxes just like any corporation especially when our country has befallen on such hard times.