When will the US begin taxing Churches?

[mightywhitey]

Canada is remote with people who just dont get it...















But IDAHO is the center of the fucking Universe.

[Farbin Kaiber]

lol. I only been here a year, and I already made it the center of the universe. Copernicus can suck it.

[Wiglaf]

you guys seem to think that having to pay estate tax somehow undoes the separation of church and state. It doesn't. EVERYONE has to pay that, they should too. If it is so important to people then they should be able to get the money to cover it.
For the other thousands of "churches" well they will have to find a different loophole to squirm out of paying their dues.

[Farbin Kaiber]

Who said only estate tax, or specifically estate tax at all.

I am talking about taxes on the income of a religious, non-profit organization.

[mrsleeve]

the more I think about this, the more I see why they need to keep the tax exempt status.

But I still feel they should be paying property taxes, on any property or holdings other than the church buildings respectively. So any homes or other property the church owns needs to be taxed at the same property rates as anyone else than may own it.

[Ryan Stewart]

They should be taxed but wont.

[decay]

i've got it! we should keep pumping $2B a year of our own tax dollars into religious organizations, but cut unemployment.

that way, when all the people who've been downsized lose their houses/apartments, they'll still have a soup kitchen to eat at.

that'll help the economy.

[Farbin Kaiber]

Did I ever say that tax exempt status religious organizations should receive government subsidies financed from taxpayers?

[decay]

Did I ever say that tax exempt status religious organizations should receive government subsidies financed from taxpayers?

i didn't say you said that.

but the reality is, they are.

is it that hard to see my point?

if you want to conserve separation between church and state, how about we stop giving the churches the states' money first...

that is a more important discussion than "should we tax them".

like i said- whaddaya say we stop giving them our money in the first place, rather than figuring out how to get it back?

[Farbin Kaiber]

I'd like you to show me some examples of the subsides and grants "churches" get from the US Federal Government.

[decay]

I'd like you to show me some examples of the subsides and grants "churches" get from the US Federal Government.

i already did, on page 1 of this thread.

since you can't be bothered to click-through yourself-

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06616.pdf

it's pretty funny how spending on religious organizations gets a free pass from the teabagger movement, when anything else the government spends money on gets scrutiny on a near-molecular level.

i guess those fuckers aren't really libertarians after all.

[mrsleeve]

I'd like you to show me some examples of the subsides and grants "churches" get from the US Federal Government.

this has been going on for some time now to help get on with the agenda's and getting it done and with the support of the churches and the people in them that would be the biggest nay sayer's

[mar1t1me]

Would churches do the kind of community services some of them do if they weren't populated by superstitious people who fear eternal damnation?

In other words, it would be interesting to know what motivates their charitable side. Care for their fellow human, an attempt to do "good works" to ensure the free trip to heaven, or a mix of both?

What if mankind finally grew out of his superstitions and woke up to realize that the world didn't get the way it did due to "God's Plan", but instead it was a man-made mess. Would he begin to act in a way to ensure his viability, i.e. population and resource controls, space exploration (the world WILL end someday so if we want to survive, we will need a way to leave and a place to go), or will he continue his infantile, superstition-driven self-destructive ways?

Frankly, I believe, in the absence of some catalyzing event, we're doomed.:drink:

[dvs909]

^^ the bible clearly states you cant get access to heaven by doing good works.

[Farbin Kaiber]

^^ the bible clearly states you cant get access to heaven by doing good works.

The thing about the bible, even though I agree with you, I could argue that from the opposite side.



The Book of James

2 20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

2 24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

2 26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.



But, like I said, I agree with you.