Left Pushes End of Church Tax Exemptions
Emboldened by their latest win in the Supreme Court over same-sex "marriage," the left has been trumpeting the cause tax exemptions for religious institutions at a much faster rate, setting the stage for it to become a national agenda.Immediately following the Supreme Court decision that declared same-sex marriage legal, Time's Mark Oppenheimer openly declared that churches should be stripped of their tax-exempt statuses, arguing they served no reliable function when helping the poor and that government had no business "subsidizing" them anymore.The current trend to end tax-exempt status for religious institutions gained further steam this past weekend, when HBO Jon Stewart clone/wannabe John Oliver lampooned tax-exempt statuses for televangelists preaching the "prosperity gospel," finding discontent with having such moral issues play themselves out in the hearts, minds, and souls of the individuals giving money to such organizations. To quote National Review's Ian Tuttle regarding John Oliver's latest rant against tax-exemptions, "Oliver is not content to let the Almighty right this wrong. He eagerly invokes a different deity: the federal government."Following John Oliver's call for leftist action against religious institutions, Occupy Democrats, a leftist advocacy group founded a kind of anti-Tea Party in 2012http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/left-pushes-end-church-tax-exemptions
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I am an atheist, yet I do not hate religion (though freely admit that I think it's foolish). I just think it should pay the same taxes as any other business. Property taxes sounds like a good place to start. They don't deserve any more special treatment then any other business.
Who from "The Left" is doing the pushing?
Got a name, a bill, an organized movement?
FREEdom of Religion taxpayers are paying for it, so how is it "free"?
You give religions more than $82.5 billion a year
As long as the taxpayer makes up the loss of revenue caused by exempting churches, THE "SEPARATION" is in name only.
And nowhere in the Constitution appear the words "separation of church and state."
"Religious freedom" should not be subsidized directly or indirectly by the taxpayer. "Freedom implies "independence," and by being able to exist tax free, churches are ironically, dependent on taxpayers.
IYHO. They are a business selling a product just like any other one and just like any other business they need to pay their fair taxes. Why should my taxes be higher just because they are dead beats? They are the ones who choose to market their product and they make a large profit from their business selling that product like any other one, so they should pay the same taxes.
Not all churches are wealthy . The point that brings up is that eliminating the tax exemption will prevent the formation of new churches more than any other effect .
No more so than new business start-ups that have to pay rent, property taxes, purchase various kinds of insurance,pay sales taxes,profit taxes, and business owners, as individuals, must pay capital gains taxes on investments, and, unlike clergy, as individuals, can't deduct rent norother living expenses when preparing their income taxes. And, unlike clergy, They cannot opt out of Social Security taxes.
I disagree, Petey.
Churches are charitable organizations.
While many of them who have ministers that live in multi-million dollar mansions (one or more) and fly around in private jets, both of which officially belong to their ministry and are tax exempt.
Churches are not businesses.
Oh of course they are. They sell a made up product they call salvation to the people they are conning. They convince some people that something all powerful exists, will kill you if you don't believe in it and always needs money. It's a business selling a product and they should pay the same taxes as any other manufacturers and retailers of any other products.
This is the reason the two most lucrative careers are in Religion and Politics.
Of course being an attorney also allows them to legally steal from others.
But enough do to make it the face of modern Christianity. The Creflo Dollar effect. Send me contributions because I need a new and bigger jet to spread the word. Then there was Oral Roberts who said God would "take him home" if he didn't raise $8 million in a specific time. When he only received about half of the money by the end of that time his ministry spread rumors that god calling him home meant that he could go by suicide, so after that the total jumped to over $9 million. His son said that Oral had raised a child from the dead.
There have been a whole series and a very long line and number of hucksters and con men who have used Christianity to make money for themselves. It continues to this day.
But accepting tax exempt status FROM THE GOVERNMENT is not only NOT SEPARATION, but outright DEPENDENCE.
The taxpayer makes up the revenue shortfall caused by religious tax-exemption churches get the benefits the rest of us pay for , that's
"REPRESENTATION WITHOUT TAXATION"
But when churches do make profits
They are exempted from paying taxes on the gains!
Andthose deductions essence, fall on other taxpayers who make up the shortfall.
DO NOT PUT WORDS IN MY MOUTH THEN EXPECT ME TO EXPLAIN MYSELF!
Lots of people and organizations are charitable WITHOUT EXISTING IN A TAX-EXEMPT WORLD!
It's the same tactic that you use XX...Thugs, jack-boot, regime, etc etc.
If you can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen.