Are you for Taxing Churches?

[devildavid]

No, they really don’t.

Their actions help us now, not in the imaginary hereafter.

 

[Moon]

Their actions help us now, not in the imaginary hereafter.

Again, they really don’t.

 

[devildavid]

Again, they really don’t.

If you use public highways, they do.

 

[Moon]

If you use public highways, they do.

If that is your only criteria, sure.

 

[devildavid]

If that is your only criteria, sure.

That is an important part of their job, among funding other public goods and services. What other criteria is needed?

 

[Moon]

That is an important part of their job, among funding other public goods and services. What other criteria is needed?

So, let’s get back a little closer to the topic, which is taxing churches. Who benefits from increased taxes? Politicians. What do they do with the money? They spend it, and not always responsibly or on things as beneficial as roads, which is why we’re $30 trillion in debt. Taxes are compelled, meaning you’re forced to pay them or else. Politicians are a necessary evil to maintain order in a nation, even if that order is illusory.

For people who attend churches, whether they are small or mega, achieve something politicians can’t provide, which is a sense of community and an outlet for people who are troubled or grieving. Money given to churches is, for the most part, voluntary, though there are some that have tithing requirements.

So which provides the greater benefit to the individual? It ain’t politicians.

 

[KingLeo]

Yes if they do not abide by the current laws.
Currently, the law prohibits political campaign activity by charities and churches by defining a 501(c)(3) organization as one "which does not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office."

 

[devildavid]

So, let’s get back a little closer to the topic, which is taxing churches. Who benefits from increased taxes? Politicians. What do they do with the money? They spend it, and not always responsibly or on things as beneficial as roads, which is why we’re $30 trillion in debt. Taxes are compelled, meaning you’re forced to pay them or else. Politicians are a necessary evil to maintain order in a nation, even if that order is illusory.

For people who attend churches, whether they are small or mega, achieve something politicians can’t provide, which is a sense of community and an outlet for people who are troubled or grieving. Money given to churches is, for the most part, voluntary, though there are some that have tithing requirements.

So which provides the greater benefit to the individual? It ain’t politicians.

Politicians do not benefit from higher taxes, everyone does. Those taxes pay for education and infrastructure that supports the economy.

Yes, church membership can help in ways that government cannot.

It isn't a contest. Both can help people.

 

[Moon]

Politicians do not benefit from higher taxes, everyone does. Those taxes pay for education and infrastructure that supports the economy.

Yes, church membership can help in ways that government cannot.

It isn't a contest. Both can help people.

Of course politicians benefit from higher taxes (and spending). The Democrats currently seem to believe they will avoid losing the House and the Senate by passing more of Biden’s tax spending bills.

 

[forn]

Absolutely against taxing churches.

 

[LetsGoBrandon]

Are you for Taxing Churches?​

This is 100% a hill I will die on, now I wonder, do you support this? I always assumed Democrats supported this but I've never heard Democrats talk about it, never a bill, never a mention by modern politicians. Do you support the Taxation of Churches?

The local churches? No. they should not be taxed. The so-called TV Evangelists? Yes, they absolutely should be taxed. with few exceptions, they are the modern equivalent of circus tent faith healers.

 

[LetsGoBrandon]

Well, if you don't think Jim Jones was extreme, then what can I say. I said INVESTIGATE first.

Jim Jones operated a cult, not a church.

 

[devildavid]

Of course politicians benefit from higher taxes (and spending). The Democrats currently seem to believe they will avoid losing the House and the Senate by passing more of Biden’s tax spending bills.

How do they benefit? You haven't provided an example. You are talking about spending, not taxing.

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

Are you for Taxing Churches?​

This is 100% a hill I will die on, now I wonder, do you support this? I always assumed Democrats supported this but I've never heard Democrats talk about it, never a bill, never a mention by modern politicians. Do you support the Taxation of Churches?

In a word:
YES

My one concession: POOR (as in SMALL) churches can get away with paying a tiny, even nominal rate.
But the big mega-church stadium operations, replete with glad-handing strongman hucksters and fully built out political agendas (YES, even LIBERAL political agendas too!) must PAY at a rate commensurate with what they are bringing in by the trainload.

 

[LittleNipper]

In a word:
YES

My one concession: POOR (as in SMALL) churches can get away with paying a tiny, even nominal rate.
But the big mega-church stadium operations, replete with glad-handing strongman hucksters and fully built out political agendas (YES, even LIBERAL political agendas too!) must PAY at a rate commensurate with what they are bringing in by the trainload.

ANY church that allows politicians to speak for either the Democratic or the Republican Party ----- should be taxed. That means that if such are allowed into a church to either promote a candidacy or gain votes, that church should be taxed ------- as it isn't promoting GOD (which is what churches are suppose to do).

 

[Goshin]

No. The power to tax is the power to destroy.

Many small churches can barely pay the bills and keep the lights on. Taxes would close the doors.

My church is solvent, but it would cut into what we spend on charitable works, like supporting the halfway house for recovering addicts.

 

[LittleNipper]

No. The power to tax is the power to destroy.

Many small churches can barely pay the bills and keep the lights on. Taxes would close the doors.

My church is solvent, but it would cut into what we spend on charitable works, like supporting the halfway house for recovering addicts.

I got a question. Do the recovering addicts ever attend services at the church?

 

[Goshin]

I got a question. Do the recovering addicts ever attend services at the church?

Yes. Actually I'd say nearly a third of our (much expanded) congregation consists of recovered addicts and their families, due to the outreach our pastor has run for the past decade.

 

[911Sparky]

Speaking as an atheist who used to be a member of an oppressed religious minority from Iran, my answer is a flat-out emphatic "NO". The power to tax is the power to destroy. Taxing authority can and almost certainly would be used to persecute religious minorities and shut down places of communal fellowship and organization.

There are better places from which to squeeze money. Religious institutions must not be one of them.

I see your reasoning and agree as far as it goes, but I disagree when it comes to the mega churches, those that exist only to collect money for the church, which is then spent on luxurious homes, cars, private jets, etc. The majority are no more Christian than you or I (I too am an atheist) but they have those
with a genuine belief in god fooled into donating funds they cannot afford (I know one such lady personally) with the belief their donations assure them a spot in heaven.

 

[911Sparky]

And who determines what that line is? from a practical poitn of view, how do you take the power ego mega con games ones, and not penalize the small, true believing churches?

I think if, as in the above video, the pastor has a 35,000 square foot home (no I didn't accidently add a zero) and is soliciting his parishioner's for
$56 million dollars for a new jet (because satanist fly commercial, don't want to travel with them) it may be time for the IRS to get a chunk of that change.

 

[LittleNipper]

Yes. Actually I'd say nearly a third of our (much expanded) congregation consists of recovered addicts and their families, due to the outreach our pastor has run for the past decade.

That is great! Amen and may GOD continue to bless.

 

[LittleNipper]

I think if, as in the above video, the pastor has a 35,000 square foot home (no I didn't accidently add a zero) and is soliciting his parishioner's for
$56 million dollars for a new jet (because satanist fly commercial, don't want to travel with them) it may be time for the IRS to get a chunk of that change.

The reality is that a church actually belongs to the MEMBERS of that church and not the pastor. If the congregation isn't happy with the behavior patterns of their pastor, they may ask him to resign.

 

[Goshin]

That is great! Amen and may GOD continue to bless.

Thanks.

When I first started going to that church, I had much skepticism about any addict outreach. Having dealt with hard-core addicts both as a cop and as a private citizen, I had pretty much given up on them as human beings. I'd known too many, the terrible things they do, and how rare it seemed any one got clean and stayed clean.

Going to this church has forced me to reconsider my views on this. God still does miracles.

 

[911Sparky]

The reality is that a church actually belongs to the MEMBERS of that church and not the pastor. If the congregation isn't happy with the behavior patterns of their pastor, they may ask him to resign.

That may be true of your local church, but in the grifter churches it all goes to the pastor. If you doubt this, watch the video above. Do you think that guy would share his 35,000 square foot home with a homeless family?

 

[Allan]

Are you for Taxing Churches?​

This is 100% a hill I will die on, now I wonder, do you support this? I always assumed Democrats supported this but I've never heard Democrats talk about it, never a bill, never a mention by modern politicians. Do you support the Taxation of Churches?

Yes, absolutely. But give them deductions for any charity work they undertake.