Jesus didn't need a church or money and whatever he had was shared with all..he could turn water into wine though so that's a plus if you believe in Christian mythology
I read zero previous comments to keep my blood pressure in check. Churches should be taxed. Of course. Otherwise, they become monsters like the Catholic Church, the Church of Scientology, the Mormon Church, the Evangelicals, and so forth, hoarding riches, buying properties, buying lawyers, hiding misdeeds, etc., or in other words: they become corrupt. Really the tax exempt status is just another way for churches to obfuscate finances. EVERYONE should get tax breaks for things, for charity based ACTIONS for example, for money donated to charities with full transparency, etc. That creates community: we are all in this together. The way it is now there is just a bunch of factions operating in the dark. This country is just petrified of offending religious people. The bar is Dark Ages low right now.
The validity of “religious following” in regards to the profitable church should have to do with their taxation. A lot of churches are somewhat integral parts of the community. Doing sincere and legitimate good for others which may otherwise be neglected by the majority of society. It’s kind of like a job if the church is legit. And if they are putting in sincere work then they should be able to show how they spend their funds to prove that there is no financial corruption and therefore be free to do what they need to do in order to fund their organization. Some institutions are just for profit, and corrupt in regards to what they would say their goals and desires are. There was one here in the Portland Metro area called the “Living Enrichment Center”, or LEC. The founders actually got arrested and charged for financial crimes.
The crusades part deux?...and it's not like churches are truly "non-profit"...they have amassed a truckload of property. The Catholic church alone owns an estimated 175,000,000 acres.
Ive always supported a flat type of tax across the board with no tax exemptions for churches and bogus non profits out there.
If the Yoga studio is a non profit 501c3 then it doesn't pay taxes. Churches should be the same - if there are no owners cashing in profits and the Church's funds are used to further their mission it should be tax exempt. If owners are getting cash, or other stakeholders pocketing excessive expenditures to themselves personally it should be taxed. If they go further it should possibly even be prosecuted. That should apply regardless if its a church or another charity.
I guess it depends if we are talking income or property taxes. Property tax I can see a stronger argument to impose taxes on church's and other non-profits. I'm not sure most of them get a lot of property tax relief there anyways. For income tax if all the income from the 175 million acres are used in accordance with their missions I don't see a problem with it. Perhaps some would like a limit on the tax exempt status - after x millions or billions of revenue they pay ~10% tax or something. There might be some good arguments for this but I feel like it would need to be applied equally to all non profits and I'm not sure that is a good change overall.
I don't think that would be acceptable...and churches are not "non-profit", where do you think all the property comes from? As far as the "10%" suggestion, well, I'll gladly pay 10% as opposed to what I'm forced to pay now. ...churches and corporations are flush with cash, which in turn will surely hire the best tax attorneys...no, I believe big business and all churches of all religions should pay just like the rest of us...the poor are not really taxed and neither are corporations in relation to the middle class, who take it up the wazoo.
