Time to exclude church's from tax exemption

[FarLeftFist]

From Politico: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29829.html

Emboldened by their success in inserting restrictive abortion language into the House health care bill, Roman Catholic bishops say they’ve found a lobbying model that could provide them a louder voice in future policy debates.


“It was a good example of how we, as a conference, can work together to have a positive influence on legislation,” Bishop William Murphy, head of the domestic justice and human development committee of the U.S. Conference of Bishops, told the Catholic News Service last week.


Success in the House came after the church ran a classic lobbying operation: deploying paid staff to Capitol Hill, tapping influential bishops to make private appeals to key congressional leaders and distributing bulletin inserts to 19,000 parishes with easy instructions — and sample wording — for sending a message to local representatives.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


So now that the church has become a political organization I think it's time to exclude them from tax exemption. They don't pay taxes AND they get to influence National legislation.

[elocs]

1. Good luck with that. I see that going nowhere fast. n/t

[PufPuf23]

2. It is long past time to start taxing churches. k&r nt

[arcadian]

3. Taxing the churches would probbly more than pay for healthcare for all

[FarLeftFist]

4. Sure, and sounds like a christian thing to do.

I heard Jesus healed the sick. Why would they complain, they should practically volunteer for that. It would probably help their membership too.

[stray cat]

5. Is DU taxed? Tax all non-profits equally then - you can't really pick and choose

or just penalize individual congregations if you want to hire and pay for someone to dictate that.

[rhett o rick]

15. All or nothing? Tax those super wealthy churches that try to influence legislation.

You dont have to tax all non-profits. And enforce the Constitution requiring separation of church and state.

[timtom]

39. Just which part of the Constitution are you referring to?

I'm not sure I recall the phrase "separation of church and state" in the Constitution.

[StarfarerBill]

32. Tax according to income, holdings, and political activity.

Not all churches are non-profit, not by a long shot; the megachurches alone would yield substantially.

[jaxx]

6. It should have been done years ago,

the first time they stuck their noses into the political arena.

[katandmoon]

7. K&R. But no politicians will have the balls to initiatie it.

[gels]

8. I agree 1000%!!!!!!!!!!!!!

in Oakland,PA, home of the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC, 95% of the property is tax exempt!!
What will happen? NOTHING!! Rep Altmire, who voted against HCR, used to be a lobbyist for UPMC!
As long as those type of relationships exist, GOOD LUCK!

[MineralMan]

9. You might want to edit that title to read Churches.

Or not. It's up to you. If you don't though, someone's going to ask you "Church's what?"

[TheDebbieDee]

10. The churches that insist on inserting themselves into the

political discussion should be taxed just like any other "for profit" organization.

[paulsby]

29. would you say that about SCLC

the coalition of black churches fighting, demonstrating, and organizing for civil rights reform?

they were "inserting themselves in the political discussion"

TAX MLK!!! TAX THE CHURCHES!!

[h9socialist]

11. TAX THE CHURCHES!!!!!!!!

They've been asking for it for over a quarter of a century! And get confiscatory towards "Liberty University" and "Bob Jones University."

Liberty University kicked the Young Democrats off campus -- that right there is enough to go after any tax shelter that that brainwashing insitution has.

[Xenotime]

20. Just don't call it a tax...call it a privledge fee.

[h9socialist]

36. No!

Call it "reparations" for all the grey matter I've lost listening to the bullshit!

[graywarrior]

12. You know, the catholic church has never told us the entire truth about the pedophile activities

and child abuse they've been condoning for years. And they have the nerve to be "emboldend" by inserting abortion language into the House health bill? Hypocritical liars and abusers as always.

My own brother was molested by our pastor priest and just informed me about it 45 years later. WTF? Grrrrrrr. They want to bring that crap up, I'll gladly start talking about the priests I know who have girlfriends, boyfriends, and stalked some of my friends when I was a kid. Screw them.

[HamdenRice]

13. What utter nonsense. That would mean goodbye Methodist Hospital of Brooklyn and

American Friends' Service Committee.

Unfortunately atheists don't organize jackshit to carry out charity work -- and I say that as an atheist.

[sailor65]

14. Very bad idea

Like every other entity with a misbehaving minority, the bulk of the Church at large is out there feeding and clothing the needy, supporting hospitals, etc..

[rhett o rick]

17. They need to keep their noses out of politics. We need to keep a separation between church and

state. Sound familiar?

[Xenotime]

21. Fundies keep blurring the line between the two.

[sailor65]

30. Like I said already,

"Like any other entity with a misbehaving minority."

Sort of like DU sometimes.....

[rhett o rick]

34. Your comparison is sad. DU never spends millions of dollars to influence legislation.

I dont mind a bit if the wealthy, powerful churches want to blog, but spending millions to influence legislation is not the business of a church. What is sad that these wealthy, powerful churches choose to spend millions of their peoples money on politics and not on helping their fellow neighbors, even their followers. People are starving and they are trying to buy legislation to promote their dogma of hate and bigotry. It is power that they are after, power to promote hate.

[sailor65]

38. No, but DU

has it own misbehaving minority, just like the church. I think you're deliberately missing the point.

Nearly all churches have nothing at all to do with politics. Are you going to nail all of them and reduce their capacity to serve? No, find some other way to get the individual offenders and leave be the rest to serve the needy the way they always have.

[ChickMagic]

16. It should be individual churches

rather than all churches. There should be investigations of each church
and if that church is politicizing the congregation, the pull their tax
exemption.

Start with the megachurches that take up prime real estate and set up
their own village. Send in stealth investigators and it shouldn't take
long to build a dossier.

[Bitwit1234]

18. The republicans are so good at starting organizations why don't

we organize one to do just that. And collect paperwork and evidence on how many times they have influenced and tried to influence procedures.

I know a lot of you are too young to remember, but the Republicans were so so alarmed when JFK was running for president. They were sure that the Catholic Church would run the country. And they just had to keep the church out of politics. DAMN HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED.

[Blue State Blues]

19. Or have churches apply for tax deductions on their annual return

instead of a blanket tax-exemption, have churches file returns and request specific deductions/exemptions.

Charitable work qualifies for exemption (proselytizing does not qualify as charitable work, only social services that actually help people).

Political activism does not, any more than it does for any PAC.

Property and buildings used for charitable work qualify for exemption, in the proportion that they are used for charitable work.

Businesses operated for profit under the auspices of the church do not qualify for any exemption (specifically real-estate development, gyms, and other mega-church activities that appear to be scamming the tax-exempt status.)

[Blue State Blues]

26. I should add, I don't believe this would ever actually pass into law

it's entirely too rational.

[DireStrike]

22. Church's what? Who is church?

[juno jones]

23. They do not need to stop getting exemptions for charity work.

Like other non-profits, their books would have to be open, balanced and accounted for.

However, money for their structures, land and political flyers instructing one to vote certain ways should taxed heavily weighed against the real benefits provided.

Tax 'em all, let the IRS sort 'em out. If they truly do good, I cannot see why they'd have a problem with proving it.

[LWolf]

24. Way past time. nt

[paulsby]

25. would you say the same thing about MLK

and the SCLC, a coalition of (predominantly) black churches that formed to advocate, plan demonstrations, and even civil disobedience in order to INFLUENCE LEGISLATION?

really?

[TroglodyteScholar]

27. I'm pretty sure Church's doesn't have any exemption

[MineralMan]

35. LOL. Well, since the OP never returned, I guess we'll have

the error preserved forever in the archives. Feh!

[B Calm]

28. I wish the First Amendment was protected as much as the Second Amendment

[h9socialist]

37. That's no lie!

[BlueIdaho]

31. Amen!

Since churches have decided to use their pulpits to tell their members how to vote, they have erased the line that separates church from state. Time to let them pay their taxes like everyone else. There is no difference between the Mormons and Monsanto, Catholics and Coca Cola - Let them pay what they owe.

[branders seine]

33. agreed

and K&R'd