Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Smithington]

It's simple: tax the churches. I honestly don't understand why the U.S., and other Western countries, don't close this archaic loophole. No group or institution should be given special status in a democracy. Especially so in a time of economic hardship. Don't churches want to pay their share? Don't they want to help reduce the debt, pay for hosapitals, schools and parks? This is not an attack on religious people, or even religion. It's a matter of wanting to level the playing field. By allowing religious institutions to avoid paying taxes the state loses 71.1 billion dollars - each year, every year. How can this be allowed to continue? Each decade that's 710 billion dollars in taxes not collected.

Isn't tax avoidance a crime for the rest of us?

In our struggle to bring down the national debt, it's time that we were all taxed fairly.

It's time to tax the churches.

[ttompatz]

So is your tithe to the church a gift or do you get some service like a plumber making a house call (redemption in there hereafter perhaps?) in return?

Are gifts taxable in the US?
How about funds used for charitable purposes (although Churches in the US do run more like big business for profit than a charity)?

.

[wishfullthinkng]

[andrewchon]

What makes you think that 70 bil will be spent on dept reduction?

Direct taxation is not the way to go. Thing to do is expand the economy (i.e. make churches spend money) and collect indirect taxes. e.g. Make smoking weed at churches a non-punishable offence because churches are by tradition a 'sanctuary' for outlaws. Give the churches the pot sale monopoly (because God's dope is holy). Churches will have to spend money for better quality dope, decorations, paraphenalia, breath mints, etc to attract more worshipers to make sacrifices at the altar. That's the way to win-win.

[World Traveler]

A way to save $80 billion a year: end the food stamps program. (Let the poor people get their food from churches.)

[Nolos]

Tax the churches. Geez is nothing sacred anymore? Keep the flipping government OUT OF MY LIFE and OUT OF MY CHURCH!

[liveinkorea316]

I agree with the OP. Large churches often run commercial businesses which pay no business taxes. This includes hospitals and universities. And don't say they will go broke because commercial firms seem to be able to pay taxes and still reinvest.

[actionjackson]

Interesting topic, I saw an article the other day about a pastor in Texas asking for donations so they could fix the church helicopter. That seems a bit excessive to me. I can't post the article because my school computer blocks just about everything now but you can google it.

[Smithington]

I forgot to add the link yesterday.

http://digitaljournal.com/article/326916

This is just one. There's articles about this all over the internet.

[Smithington]

[Kuros]

World Traveler offered the alternative, and now I'm all for the proposal. Tax the churches.

[Nolos]

[candy bar]

Tax them to hades. The church is the biggest money laundering business out there.

[Fox]

[Scorpion]

It's not just in the US. Many other Western countries (Canada, etc.) continue to give tax exempt status to the churches. Religion plays a much smaller role in Canadian society (and Western Europe) than in the US, so they should take the lead. Something like 90% of Swedes are either atheists or agnostics. Do they still give the churches a free pass? I don't know, but as societies move away from organized religion these things must be addressed. We're not in the Middle Ages anymore. The privileges of "the Church" can no longer go unchallenged.