Tax-The-Church

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Tax-The-Church/I have created a e-petition calling for the removal of tax exempt status of religions in the UK.the text reads
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We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Remove tax-exempt status for religions (granted such privilege) within the United Kingdom.For too long Religions have enjoyed the un-warranted special
status of being tax exempt under UK Law. This has to stop. It
is unfair that these organisations get de-jure tax exempt
status, when the atrocities that have been committed by, and in the name of, these organisations would have bared any other ”charitable’ organisation from receiving said same tax exempt status.If these religions wish to continue tax-exempt charity work,
they should be obliged set up and run separate charitable organisations for which they would have to apply for tax-exempt status like another ”charitable’ organisation. This also allows oversight in the running of these charities.For many if not all of these religions charitable works are but a secondary concern over their primary goal of maintaining and spreading their religion. As with all corporations with a product to sell they should pay their taxes on their profit. (I will be gracious to not demand back taxes)-----------if you feel like adding your voice then please follow the link (uk citizens only. soz)

see http://www.deism.com/tax_religions.htmFor some additional information. Why should some beliefs get preferential treatment.Good luck.

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RebelAAmericanOZen[Deist
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quote:

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Luk 20:25 And he said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's and unto God the things which be God's.

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I've always said that that should apply at the group level as well as at the individual level.If I wasn't just a lowly Canadian....

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Well I am just an American, but I would love to see us tax the churches.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

The evangelical right has been so anxious to step into the political arena in the U.S., you'd think they'd be lining up demanding that their churches share the honor of paying taxes to support invading evil empires and botching the rescues of wicked American Sodomite cities.They seem perfectly willing to donate the lives of their sons and daughters... It is passing strange that they draw the line at gold.

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Why should donations be taxed? What difference does it make if they are tax exempt? The government gets paid handsomely. Each and every member of the church is taxed in every other capacity of their lives. Why tax their donations to charity? Would you tax the Salvation Army?

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"A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell." -C.S. Lewis

Then why single out one capacity of their lives for exemption?Once again, why should "render unto Caesar" not apply on the group level?

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The Salvation Army is a religious institution. Bad analogy.I do not think that religious institutions should be taxed on the tithes that people give or for charitable givings (ie donating coats, food, helping orphaned chldren, etc). However, I do think that churches shouls be taxed on any commercial enterprises that they undertake (the selling of videos, books, t-shirts, etc). Whatever percentage is devoted to charity from these enterprises could be tax-deductible by the individual buying said products and from the entities selling, but the rest should be taxed.I agree with this for every non-profit. Not just churches. However, just like society, non-profits are structured in classes. You have the churches, which have massive donations and even entities like GreenPeace and WWF and what have you that have massive incomes from magazines, videos, etc. These institutions themselves do away with alot of taxes by contributing to research that the government can't or won't do. But you also have smaller non-profits whose workers and even "executives" do not take in any extra money for themselves. I'm sure that there are many church projects who also want for lack of funds and they should not be overly taxed, either. I am concerned with huge mega-churches who have the income to take over both sides of a main thoroughfare in a large, high land price county and then have a 3rd church along one of the most booming areas of the county, but no taxes. And then, they get grants from the "faith based" initatives from Bush, meanwhile entities supporting homeless services or other social services who don't proselytize are forced to use decrepit, understaffed buildings ( I know, I've been to many of these, including, gay youth counseling, unemployment, rent help, etc).I would and do recognize many different charities right to exist without interference from the government, but when I see many organizations' "executives" culling a nice paycheck, I have a right to wonder. And I have the most wonder when it comes to church related organizations. Whatever tithing or "charitable giving" is not used for actual charitable events and a decent wage for employees should be taxed and given back to the people. That's what taxes are supposed to be for. Giving back to the people who pay them.

Straw man. Not tax those, but make them go through the same requirements as secular tax-exempt institutions - including oversight - so you don't have Pat Robertson taking katrina aid donations and using them to dig diamonds in africa. Local government gets nothing from income taxes on people whether they belong to a religious institution or not, but they do have to provide support, protection and services for those institutions ... fire, police, water, sewers, garbage, power, etcetera are all similar - do these institutions not pay electrical bills?Many secular tax-exempt institutions pay property taxes, what makes churches special?http://www.deism.com/tax_religions.htm

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According to the tax appraiser's office for Pinellas County, Florida the dollar amount of exempt real estate held by religions in Pinellas county alone is: $583,581,970.00!!!

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That's money that could reduce property tax for everyone equally.Why should the established churches get special treatement?Enjoy.

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The church is a company selling an image and a product (salvation, a much in demand product you will agree) It makes Millions each year. it owns Billions in assets. Every other company has to pay taxes so should the church. And we are not talking about taxing those who frequent the church or are employed by it but the organisation, the company itself. Big difference.The Churches are a money making machine and a fraction goes to charitable causes (just look as the accumulated wealth of the church, it's ostentations, it's assets. Where are the hair-shirt robes the vows of poverty. where is the dedication to helping financially by liquidating the vast financial resources to do good.No The church is a profit generating machine like any corporation. Concerned with it's spun image, protecting it's employees against outside attack. Out to ruin and destroy the competition and achieve a monopoly. It's charitable works pale in comparison's to all it's done in the name of it's primary goal, which is defending and spreading it's nasty corrosive little meme.It is NOT a charity, and any pretensions to the contrary are illusionary. And as it's primary reason for existance is NOT charitable works it does not (and never will) deserve the tax-exempt status of a charity. And that is the simple truth of the matter.If you want to give to charity GIVE to a reputable charity. If you wish to bolster the profit of your church then give to your church but dont expect Uncle Sam not to take his 'fair' share.

It's also about transparency and accountability. One wonders how many people would donate to Pat Robertson if they knew where the money was really going.

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RebelAAmericanOZen[Deist
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So in a very real sense the income tax isn't legal, as many have proclaimed, but try not paying it and see how far you get before the Feds come after you and confiscate everything you own.If income tax isn't legal why should anyone much less the churches pay income tax.The foreign bankers are making our money out of nothing and charging interest on the money they made out of nothing yet pay no taxes. The reason for our national debt is not the churches but the Federal Reserve.Jesus Christ set an example by chasing the money changers out of the temple. Presidents that followed Christs example against the Money Changers like Lincoln, Kennedy were assassinated.Only because they didn't agree with allowing a foriegn body of bankers to make American money out of nothing and then pay them interest for making our money out of nothing.The church is not the problem the problem is that as a nation were
tithing to these foreign bankers (who are these foreign bankers?)(does anyone know) (Satans goons?). What were paying them daily is more than what the Federal Resister says it would cost to buy out of this Satanic deal.Lets start tithing as a nation to God surely its better than the present deal we have with the Federal Reserve.We can have Kent Hovind, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson in charge and we could call it the Amero and compete with the Euro. P.S. I guess we need to wait until the Lord Jesus returns before us Gentiles (Kent, Jerry, Pat and the rest of the church) that will rule and reign with Christ in righteousness out of Jerusalem. In the meantime the problem is not the churches but the present deal we have with the IRS, etc...----------------------------The Federal Reserve Building in Washington DCJust in case you didn't know the Federal Reserve is a private company of bankers with twelve branch banks that confiscate our money and they have been doing this for almost a hundred years,--- this time! They are not part of the United States Government. Yet today they collect hundreds of billions of dollars from American taxpayers every year.We didn't have nor did we need an income tax until we got the bankers back. The income tax was only needed to pay interest to the bankers for our money that they loan to our government. Yes, you read that right, the Fed, mostly on paper and computer, creates money or pays the treasury a small printing fee for currency, and then loans this money to our government. Our taxes pay them interest on this loan that cost the FEDS virtually nothing to make, what a sweetheart of a deal they have going for them.As of March 6, 2006, the national debt stands at 8.2 trillion dollars. The American taxpayers have paid the FED banking system $173,875,979,369.66 in interest on that debt in just five short months, from October, 2005, through February, 2006. No con artist or group of con artists in history has ever perpetrated a scam that even approaches the scope of this one.According to the two volume work by Bill Benson and Red Beckman , "The Law That Never Was" the 16th amendment, which created the IRS, was never properly ratified, not even by one state! These gentlemen traveled the then 48 states to verify that fact. So in a very real sense the income tax isn't legal, as many have proclaimed, but try not paying it and see how far you get before the Feds come after you and confiscate everything you own.According to Congressional record the U.S. Government can buy back the FED at any time for $450 million. That's about half the amount of money we pay them daily.Error 404 Page Not FoundEdited by Charley, : No reason given.Edited by Charley, : No reason given.Edited by Charley, : No reason given.

Might also consider the tax-exempt status of individuals who belong to a certain church, such as the Amish. Theoretically, any individual who could nominally join one of these churches could file for exemption fraudulantly, in the same manner as those who create 'fake' churches to avoid taxation.All in all I am not in favor of taxing churches. We already tax the individuals, then we will tax the orginization, and then what? The Vatican? Since that is the head of the RC organization, who would the taxes be paid to?In spite of the opposition voiced on this thread, I am of the opinion that even blatant promotion of a religion does not render it a product which is being 'sold'. Of course evengelization = membership = money, money, money = corruption, but larger congregations also means greater expenditure. Is it fair to say a drug company 'markets' a legit cure just because some corrupt ones do just that? I wouldn't want to make the good suffer with the bad, but to do more to put the bad out of office.

Because its a charity. If you are going to tax churches, you'll have to tax mosques, Buddhist temples, any homeless shelter that does not generate a revenue, or any organization that operates solely from charitable donations.

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"A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell." -C.S. Lewis

Churches are not charities.Mosques, temples, synagogues: fine, all real property should be taxed equally with the sole exception of organizations/institutions whose sole purpose--not income--is charitable. That exempts the homeless shelter but not the suburban mega-church social club.It appears to me that most church income is spent on the infrastructures of socializing, celebration of common belief, and political influence wielding.Other people who gather together for those purposes have to pay taxes to support the services they require--just because you believe in heaven and hell shouldn't mean that you don't have to help pay for the fire brigade.

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Drinking when we are not thirsty and making love at any time, madam, is all that distinguishes us from the other animals.-Pierre De Beaumarchais (1732-1799) Save lives! Click here!
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