start taxing religions and churches
 

if the government can tax income, food, water, etc..., i think they should start taxing these churches and religions.

:thumbsup

Yep sounds like a plan to me.

Amen Brother! Since there is no separation of church and state make those buggers pay their fair share.

Americans are complaining that the wealthy and corporations pay too little in taxes, but at least they pay something. The religious community though, is paying nothing and it is time they start contributing to their community, state, and Federal governments for the resources they consume and damage they have wrought on this country. It is finally the time to eliminate the tax-exempt, non-profit status of every church in America whether it is the vile Southern Baptist Convention affiliates, Islamic Mosques, Jewish Tabernacles or Buddhist monasteries. At the same time, the tax code must be revised to eliminate the double-dipping statutes that allow the clergy to avoid paying the same rate of income tax as the rest of the American population. Religion has taken welfare from the American people long enough and with communities laying off fire fighters, police officers, and school teachers while struggling to make ends meet, churches of every denomination are enjoying government entitlements working Americans never receive.

There is absolutely no valid reason to give churches tax-exempt status; in fact it is unconstitutional. Religious fanatics and normal people alike give myriad reasons for why churches should not pay property tax or income tax, but they are all based on the belief that religious people are special and deserve taxpayers’ largesse. Many Americans say that churches and the clergy are doing god’s work and warrant special privileges. If they are doing god’s work, then let god give them welfare now or make them wait till they die and go wherever they think they’re going for their reward. There are other Americans who claim Christian churches deserve welfare because they are doing good work in their communities. Nurses, teachers, fire-fighters, and police officers really do good work in their communities but they are not exempt from paying their fair share in taxes.

politicususa.com/en/churches-taxes

The mega-churches with "pastors" that live in mansions and have private jets would be a good place to start.

settled law.

live with it.

bajillions in property taxes lost every year. i bet within my lifetime we finally see churches taxed.

:thumbsup

I agree tax the hell out of them.

need not even bring up things like Scientology, religious tax exemption is used for business - highlighted in examples like Scientology who bring in more than your average church on the corner in revenue due its licensing and books.

No you won't. It's been common practice for hundreds, if not thousands thousands, of years. And despite what GFYers like to believe, a good majority of the population is affiliated with a religion/place of worship. You're also leaving out the whole part where many places of worship do actually reinvest in their community, other communities, and help people. Which is far more than what most standard citizens would even think about doing.

Help people = they like you = they aren't going to break age old tradition and vote against you.

well i remain positive LOL

i am not the only one for taxing them and I will not be the last.... many great articles out there regarding this.

Church are broke man... gonna tax dust.

Here in Quebec many churches are getting sold and they build condo's into them.

Better off taxing weed, there's more followers in weedianisme :pimp

its alrdy being taxed in parts of America. :)

Realistically, the only tax that would really be coming out of most churches would be property taxes, which typically go to the local school district. Many churches have their own schools or their own school district and offer education at a much cheaper price per student, which also lessens the overall student load on the public school system.

You're not going to get much from taxing profits. Most churches don't even have profits.

I don't know if churches pay sales tax on their purchases or not. If not, that would be a fair tax.

Mega-churches on the other hand are clearly a scam, but they have so many followers and so much money behind them, it would be close to impossible to tear them down.

especially if the Churches are going to get involved in politics, you play, you pay :2 cents:

catholic school has never been cheaper than any other schools....the catholic school i went to still rakes in over 4k per child every year... no taxes :)

x about 1000 students = 4mil a year.

yep, mega churches is where the $$$ is and its time to tax the shit out of them.

so you disagreed with me, but then agree with me? LOL ;)

im not talking about some church in some hick county with 4 goers, im talking about churches that clear millions of dollars every year.

The public school system, on average, pays a minimum of $10k to educate every individual student. The Catholic school system educates each child much much cheaper than the public school system. So in your example, that Catholic school is saving your public school system over $5,000 a year by educating that student at a much cheaper price.

$4 million to educate 1000 students for a year is peanuts.

Down here in New Orleans, the catholic church owns tons and tons of property. All kinds.

The police chief of NO lives in a church owned property right behind the Saint Louis Cathedral. The news came out he wasn't paying any rent, so they claimed he pays market value which means he probably pays $500 a month now. lol. Regular citizens can't even rent these places.

This place is crazy owned and ran by catholics. It is disturbing. :Oh crap

Again, this place does it's own thing, so this statement is totally wrong in regards to NO. It is crazy. The public schools are garbage too. Luckily there are charter schools now.

Agreed. :thumbsup :thumbsup

Once they stared getting actively involved in political campaigns it was game over. They should now be taxed just like everyone else. If you do not like it, stay out of politics.

:2 cents:

not sure about the back woods town you live in but here in the civilized part of America, $4k per child is at least 3 times cheaper than the cost of public school.

No, you said tax religion and churches. If you want to tax the scam ass "churches for profit", I'd vote for that. Those guys are pretty crafty though, they would get around it no problem.

yeah just imagine if a church had the copyright on the bible

no way to separate them

If anyone has lived in New Orleans, and did the family thing at all, they might understand where Fletch is coming from. (and isn't catholic lol).

The catholics sssooo own this place. During hurricanes, they have priests on the news prime time, praying. LOL

the catholic school i went to recently erected a full enclosed basketball court gym building (the school is K-8) there is no basketball court even needed.

However, what they did was phenomenal in regards to their loop holes.

They took out the loan for the building using donations right,...then applied a $255 fee (clearly marked on the tuition form) that is to "cover the debt and cost of new building" - its written clearly on tuition form.

so they borrowed with donations, then pay it off with a billed cost to students. no taxes...

im the only one sees something wrong here?

oh my God! the horror! he was actually on TV????

Do you pray? I guess you must if you think that is alright.

I'm watching the news for info on the hurricane, but it was all prayer and about GOD going to make sure New Orleans is ok. This was Gustav btw, after Katrina. Crazy to see.

ps. for a non catholic, it is horror... scary for sure!

You have a serious hardon for religion.

Were you molested by a priest as a kid?

We need to tax alcoholics more for having to put up with their mad drivel.

omg i got DarkJedi to post in my thread! welcome back ol friend and client!

hey man, let me know when you wanna order more banners http://www.getbannersmade.com

we live in a judeo-christian society.

you can choose to not like it but that doesn't change the facts.
since the government doesn't control the TV station, you have no point. just like your man has no point about the cost of church run schools.

yup, pretty much

You don't think the government controls the TV station? So I guess they can broadcast anything they want, right? Like porn, beheading videos, vulgar language. Sure, the government NEVER controls the TV. :1orglaugh

Maintream news can do whatever they want, the US government never intervenes. :1orglaugh

As we all know, the government can't make laws fast enough to control... drumroll please..... the internet! So yeah, they sort of have a hand in these things. lol

lol you are arguing with yourself, I never tried to make a point about the cost of church-run schools other than Sly said they "offered education at cheaper price" i disagreed, the debate went nowhere, because i wasnt talking about the cost to public, was talking cost to student. we moved on... yet thats the only point you have to make here? Woah, deep.

this thread was never about comparing costs of taxpayer burden of education

Ladies and Gents, the voice of GFY. :1orglaugh

You should be president of this message board, voicing your opinion as everyone's. You go Obama. :1orglaugh

the debate went nowhere because you are wrong.

negro, i got you in chains.

listen fletch and cherry, I'm sure when the two of you are sitting on your flea ridden couch drinking your afterwork moonshine you convince each other how smart you are but here in the real world, you're clueless.
We get it, you don't like religion. big deal.
your likes and dislikes mean nothing to facts.
and the facts remain unchanged.

ah personal attacks, the result of nothing left to retort.

run along, i win.

Funny, but the ignorance of that statement pretty much sums up your posting career.

Please, spare your brain the energy of thinking about what Fletch and I do on the couch. :1orglaugh

ps. thanks for the posts, I enjoy the debate (til it resorts to tardness). Please, 12clicks, add us into your prayers tonight. Thanks. lol

personal attack?
please......
identifying you as less than intelligent is not a personal attack any more than identifying a bird as something that flies is a personal attack on the bird.
it is what it is, you are what you are.

@ cherry,

there is no debate when 12clocks posts. As he clearly states, he is here because he is bored and doesnt have anything else to do.

understandable. we all come here to kill a little time. im here to do that and drum up some business. but i do at least have other things to do lol

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i think what pisses 12clicks off about me so much (and I have nothing against him, I actually have learned from him) is that I am just like him.

Just a man trying to run a business and provide for my family. I could be doing illegal things to get by, but I choose to hustle and grind and do things the right way.

He likes to classify me and put me in groups to which i do not even belong, (like this 99%er stuff to which i am not even part of) and I think this justifies his mental position and vision of me, but that doesnt make it accurate.

When 12clicks looks at me he sees a younger version of himself , and somehow that has always brought negativity out from him towards me.

heheh

buuuump (12cliks killed my thread!)

no kidding.. that seems very close to fraud for me lol

:1orglaugh

I don't know about taxing churches, but I was pissed off that when I had to buy the building permit for my house they nailed me $600 extra for a "Catholic school fund", which basically goes to rebuild the local Catholic grade school when the time comes that it needs to be done. (this is in Canada)

Seems stupid that even though I send my kids to public school that I should have to pay my tax dollars to help rebuild the local Catholic school. Thankfully John Tory never got in when he was running for premier in the last election as he wanted to fund religious schools for every faith (muslim, etc.) to be fair, since they were already doing it for the Catholics. That secured his fate in the election pretty quick! One stupid religious tax is enough!