Seems the line between church and state is getting smaller and smaller.
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Seems the line between church and state is getting smaller and smaller.
If it is a true non-profit, I'd say no.Quote:
Originally Posted by FredK
For churches making a profit, I'd say tax anything over normal operating expenses and a percentage they can save for capital improvements.
If it's a business generating tons of money, hell yes, tax them the same as any other business.
I might have personal bias, but I think if a church has a profit motive, which would include everyone getting paid who « serves » in the church, or if they have profitable business investments, over and above congregant donations, they should probably be taxed.
But on the other hand, any ministries that help the poor, or those that have been through a disaster, whether man made or natural, should be deductible.
This is part of the hostility I see and what I think the SC responded to. There is a segment in America that wants to exclude religion from any public role at all and when any ground is given, starts trying to find ways to put religion back in its box.Quote:
Originally Posted by FredK
That's quite an overstatement.Quote:
Originally Posted by FredK
And when a church transgresses, that individual church can be appropriately sanctioned:
Branch Ministries v. Rossotti, 2000.Quote:
Four days before the 1992 presidential election, Branch Ministries, a tax-exempt church, placed full-page advertisements in two newspapers in which it urged Christians not to vote for then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton because of his positions on certain moral issues. The Internal Revenue Service concluded that the placement of the advertisements violated the statutory restrictions on organizations exempt from taxation and, for the first time in its history, it revoked a bona fide church's tax-exempt status because of its involvement in politics. Branch Ministries and its pastor, Dan Little, challenge the revocation on the grounds that (1) the Service acted beyond its statutory authority, (2) the revocation violated its right to the free exercise of religion guaranteed by the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and (3) it was the victim of selective prosecution in violation of the Fifth Amendment. Because these objections are without merit, we affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment to the Service.
Getting everyone paid who serves the church is not evidence of a profit motive. Government is also not going to get into deciding what ministers of faith are paid or even who they are. For example, the Franciscan Order operates a number of hospitals across the country. Is everyone who works there a minister of faith? Of course not, but the Order has a ministerial function of serving the poor and healing the sick so the government keeps its hands off the method by which the Catholic Church pursues those goals. The last thing the government wants to do is start deciding just how a church goes about fulfilling its spiritual mission.Quote:
Originally Posted by Scooter
Does the Catholic Church have profitable business ventures? Sure. But business ventures that are related to the ministerial function are not taxed. Stuff that is NOT related to the ministerial function already is.
If they Tax the crap out of Joel Osteen and his ilk it will not bother me in the least.
Which literally goes with what I was saying. I do think that there are some “ministries” that seem to take advantage of their tax free status for personal enrichment. In my church, there are quite a few senior leaders that are very wealthy, with some being legitimate billionaires. None of them received their wealth from their church ministry, and many of them do not accept any money from the church.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin
That's exactly who I was thinking of when I said "If it's a business generating tons of money, hell yes, tax them the same as any other business."Quote:
Originally Posted by TriGuy
Amen.......pun intendedQuote:
Originally Posted by TriGuy
Our friend accurately describes how our largest church works when money is involved.Quote:
Originally Posted by Scooter
I worked with the LDS Church's financial leadership when I was working for Utah's government. My state thought so highly of the Church's financial situation that we hired a guy from their leadership, named Ron Bigalow, to run the Governor's Office of Budget and Finance. And, when Mr. Bigalow retired, he was elected Mayor of West Valley City, Utah's second-largest city.
Hunter