Agnostic.com

14 2

Should any religious organization that enters the political arena lose their tax exempt status?

Religious organizations own many tens of billions of dollars in tax exempt real estate and other assets. In order to make up for the shortfall local, state and federal taxing authorities must raise the taxes on everyone else. This means that people who are not affiliated with any religion (though they may claim to be believers) and anti-theists are forced to, in effect, subsidize religion. Worse still, these organizations, rolling in dough that might have been paid in taxes, use their money to sponsor ballot initiatives or take other political action in an attempt to impose their version of sharia law on the rest of us. Should any religious organization that enters the political arena lose their tax-exempt status?

GareBear517 7 Nov 10
Share

Enjoy being online again!

Welcome to the community of good people who base their values on evidence and appreciate civil discourse - the social network you will enjoy.

Create your free account

14 comments

Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.

1

Yes. Even more-so, though, I believe the exemption should be lost whenever internal costs exceed a specific percentage in relation to the income distributed to service outside the organization. Determining what the percentage needs to be, and whether that should change as the organization increases in size would be something for legislators to wrangle over. Many churches, small and large, truly do contribute a lot to causes outside the church itself and are often worthy of the tax exempt status, however there are also many that serve as little more than tax havens for the people at the top.

Defining inside vs outside might also be difficult but salaries and maintenance/upkeep of the facilities should definitely be considered internal. Things like community services, such as feeding the homeless should be considered external. I'm sure the support of missionary activity would be a point of contention here, but I would argue that could be considered outside if there are aspects of that service that contribute to community building and services in addition to simply converting individuals to a particular belief.

2

Yes. At least in the U.S., the tax code specifically states that their tax exempt status is dependent on their staying out of politics. If they want a boice in government, then they shoudl help pay to support it.

1

they should all have to show where the donations go. PERIOD

1

They should lose it; especially those far right trump supporting hypocrites. Fascist fundamentalists using religion as a disguise should definitely be taxed.

1

Yes, I agree with many people on this thread, that Religious organizations shouldn't be tax exempt to begin with. While I understand that everyone has the right to become involved in politics, when the member of a religious organization becomes involved with a government campaign they can be supportive as an individual, but when the leader of a religious organization becomes political, there is an assumption about how the congregation should lean. The entire concept of "shepherd" and "flock" within the Christian tradition is based on conformity. So these religious leaders are influencing large portions of a population who may feel compelled to vote a certain way because of their religious leadership. I think that is wrong. Religious ideology should be separate from governing people. A lot of the strife we are seeing in this country is from religious govt. leaders trying to put policy in place that will affect everyone, not just the people of their chosen creed.

The same could be said of political parties. When a candidate accepts money from a party they are agreeing to tow the party line whether or not it truly represents their own opinions or is to the benefit of their constituency. This explains much of the gridlock and paralysis of our government in dealing with issues in a timely matter. Religion complicates the problem ten-fold.

1

Religion should be taxed like any other business. They are selling a service as well as merchandise. I have noticed that the leaders don't seem to adhere to the same rules and doctrine they preach to their congregation. To me, religion is about domination, control, with a healthy portion of greed.

If religious leaders truly believed what they preach then no one would be homeless, education would be equal for everyone, the drug epidemic would have solutions, and no one would go hungry. Politicians and the wealthy wouldn't get away with the crimes they commit and there would be true justice.

I don't think religious leaders believe their own rhetoric.

Betty Level 8 Nov 11, 2017

I often draw parallels between religion and snake oil salesmen. Both sell a totally useless product but enjoy the possibilities of reaping huge financial rewards. At least the snake oil salesman hands you a bottle of elixir in exchange for your money and he has to pay taxes on the proceeds of his enterprise. Why do we expect any different from religion?

1
2

Yes - they should all lose their tax exempt status anyways. They do run social programs, etc., but instead of tax breaks for the churches this money should be put government running better programs for the poor, kids, etc. We don't need religion in our lives, it is poison.

I totally agree! Why should we leave building a social safety net to the sporadic and fickle efforts of any organized charity? The tax monies they withhold from the government would go a long way in plugging the holes in a coordinated, well-planned effort by a secular humanist government.

2

Absolutely yes.

1

They should be taxed like any other business. They are among the biggest property owners, and from personal experience and also from that of friends the most ruthless of landlords.

As an example they own a huge swath of the commercial property in Waikiki and pay no taxes on the income nor property taxes on the real estate but feel free to make their opinions known on everything from abortion to gay rights.

2

Absolutely! Under existing law, they are supposed to! The problem is that Republicans will not enforce the law.

I haven't seen any demoncrats leading any parades demanding they pay taxes, either!

2

Absolutely. Enough said.

2

I thought they were already prohibited from political action. If that isn't the case, then yes, they should lose tax-exempt status.

2

Just "YES".

Write Comment
You can include a link to this post in your posts and comments by including the text q:3358
Agnostic does not evaluate or guarantee the accuracy of any content. Read full disclaimer.