Church tax for the USA now!

Most churches Im familiar with are very political anti abortion, anti homosexual, anti liberal, and these churches use the pulpit to influence the popular vote. I have seen blue laws enacted in my state where business were forced to close on Sundays and alcohol sales were banned on Sundays. In the end these laws failed because citizens just took there money across state lines.

These same people often refer to themselves as the real good Americans.

So IMHO its time they start showing there patriotism and start paying taxes like the rest of us. I would support taxing churches/organized religions.

I would Never support a tax for the general population that would goto churches.

Tax my cigarettes and booze, we will tax your house of worship, seems fair to me.

"if"/ there is a separation of church and state and the statement is the foundation of the society the church is not a member of society and therefore should be treated as equal to a foreign country.

No new church tax needed. They simply need to end or greatly reduce the tax exemptions enjoyed by the church especially the new mega churches that rake in cash hand over fist. Nothing like a pastor with a Gold Rolex on his modest wrist.

I know of several churches in my area that own quite a lot of untaxed land that they are willing to sell for profit on a moments notice to the highest bidder.

[edit on 10-2-2010 by jibeho]

Originally posted by halfoldman

What I find strange is that the US has a huge nominally Christian and fundamentalist population. Expecially the fundamentalist evangelicals argue against the separation of church and state, and villify the ACLU and others who agitate to keep religion private.


[edit on 9-2-2010 by halfoldman]

then why not Tax the evangelists? these guys who run the MEGA churches. Ive never been to Europe, but around here, there are certain churches that are FAR bigger than any amusement park complex, and it makes me wonder about their tax status.

most of the time, the smaller churches are the only ones that have a hard time paying the bills, mainly because its less people to get donations from.

Originally posted by Ausar
"if"/ there is a separation of church and state and the statement is the foundation of the society the church is not a member of society and therefore should be treated as equal to a foreign country.

Perhaps, but in that case the "foreign country" should return the policy of non-interferance, and stop meddling in "local politics" in all kinds of ways.

Star and flag, good post, important subject matter. I happen to think churches should be taxed just like any other business is taxed. Churches make a great deal of money, and most sit on prime real estate too, so property tax should also be applied. Why do I say this, you ask? Because the Church has been in my government's ear for many years now, and people like the Christian Right try to make certain I have no fun at all. Tax them all!

reply to post by drsmooth23

To jibeho - in church-taxed Europe the properties of the churches don't seem to be taxed, rather the state automatically facilitates money to the churches. What I still want to clarify is whether the state gets any kind of percentage for the service, which is very murky and hard to clarify.
But yeah, ending tax exemption to these multi-millionaires is a fair solution.

To drsmooth23 - Wow, both posts here are connected for me because they give me an idea of the incredible scale of religious influence in the US. In fairness though the Vatican is a huge (albeit historical) amusement park, and the Mormons and other groups also have these opulent displays of space. So we can't single out one sect, it would have to be applied equally. Otherwise we'd just have the push-down pop-up effect. Tax the evangelicals and next thing the frauds will all be Mormons or Moonies (for example) doing the same thing.

Nevertheless you both have a point - in Europe one does not have these mega-churches, and the mass influence of TV evangelists.



[edit on 10-2-2010 by halfoldman]

I agree. There should be limits on tax exempt status. Some of the Mega Churches here in the south operate like businesses and even have side companies running within the church that are also tax exempt. There is one in Spartanburg SC that runs a church related mall. The head pastor from one of the "prosperity gospel" megas located here makes 500k per year. I know this because a relative goes there and had their pay bulletin. To say nothing of the televangelists making millions.

I should have become a preacher since it is good pay in hard times.

if an japanese embassy based in new york has to pay rent and cant purchase property where does the idea that a church owning land and being tax exempt come from?do they feel their god will tax them? i hope he tax dat a$:jk.

but seriously how can a functioning organ function with accepted "cancers" of the body; when the body has declared there is a separation?all forms of "churches" in america should be taxed and treated just like the corporation it is:now, with the separation of church and state still standing.personally i wouldnt want america accepting the church within its body of state functions, but would make an exception if they were penalized as much as any other thing i see.

I think the opposite should happen. Instead of taxing the people for churches, we should start taxing the churches for the people.

Limit or eliminate the tax exempt status of all religions.

Or, we could all turn our homes into tax free churches, get a minister license, (easy) and have a board of directors consisting of you and three other people, one a deacon, and hold services once a month. Instant tax free property. Come one, come all, to the new church of tax freedom!

reply to post by toochaos4u


Hey, you're in SC. Have you ever gone poking around Jim and Tammy Faye Bakers old tax shelter in Fort Mill? I speak of the old Heritage USA Theme park. Quite an eerie place just off of I-77 if any of it is still standing. Just a reminder of the crazy greed and demise of some of these cash hungry enterprises/businesses.

Well taxing a religion would breakdown free exercise of religion. Contrary to what sheeple will tell you not all churches make lots of money, sure televangelist will raise money for their church but keep in mind there are so many christian off-shoot religions to tax them all would lead to some being closed. But keep in mind there are also benifits for the church for paying taxes, in germany where they tax religion they teach religion in public schools.
With the taxation of religion they would in time lose their religious status and would become another buisiness. Then they could start offering religious classes in public schools, just like computer science. It would be a subject to learn a trade. Just like microsoft supports computer science classes where kids learn how to use windows the christian churches would support classes where students would learn the bible.

reply to post by autowrench


I loved this postWhy not try it out and let us
know how it goes with the IRS and the authorities.

Originally posted by mamabeth
This is a really funny post,I enjoyed the chuckle I had reading it.
A lot of churches are money grabbing charletans,most are on TV!
You have to be careful where you get your doctrine from.A lot of
churches change doctrine and scripture to fit their personal beliefs.

Agreed, and considering the sheer volume of Christian sects (around 50,000) who could know who has the right of it. The bible lends itself to everything from peaceful loving people to endorsing slavery, child murder, and hatred, among other things.

But glad I gave you a chuckle. I do have a flair for the dramatic.

My husband and I pay our tithes every week.

And more power to you and yours. I feel that money given to churches that is used to aid anyone who requires help, without prejudice, is favorable to stable society.

We also support those in the mission fields,spreading the gospel of Jesus to the lost.

I don't want to say that all mission trips are bad, but from my experience most are nothing more than spring break for Christians. Massively wasteful of money that is needed greatly in our own communities.

I scorn those who spend 5-10k a person to go to Africa for a week when there are children who go to bed hungry within walking distance of that same church.

A tithe, is 10% of our income, paid each week to our church.

I'll not oppose that, provided the parishioners are focused on how the money is spent.

Many pastors in my area, and dare I say most, life far more comfortably than my wife, 4 kids, and I.

reply to post by KrazyJethro


Have you ever wondered why they live more comfortably than your
family?God takes care of His own in every aspect of their lives.

I say instead of taxing them, they should use 10% of that money to feed the hungry and cloth the poor. Why distribute the wealth to people who will mismanage it? Feeding the poor should be a first priority. If they refuse then install a 10% tax.

Originally posted by mamabeth

Have you ever wondered why they live more comfortably than your
family?God takes care of His own in every aspect of their lives.

I think it might be the 100-250k salary they earn, but no, I disagree that God takes care of his own.

His own get raped, tortured, murdered, abused, starved, stolen from, and many other things in equal measure as other people. It's just that we live in a nice area where people are more civilized.

He sure put the pain on those pesky Christian black folks for a long time, and by white Christians at that.

No, I don't think he takes care of his own. At best he seems indifferent.

Please help me, I don't understand. Maybe I'm just thick, I don't know, but I don't get it.

Are you suggesting that people pay a fee in order to attend the church of their choice? Is this what you mean by church tax? Or do you mean taxing the charitable donations that people give to the church? Or do you mean taxing the churche's actual assets?

I can see a potential problem if you do start taxing religion in the US. If a church pays tax, then wouldn't that open up a lot of legal issues? I'm not a lawyer, I don't know, but I think messing around with taxation probably has some fine legal matters attatched. Conversly, if the church is paying a tax then they might demand more involvement in the government? IMO that would be a bad thing...

Originally posted by smyleegrl
Please help me, I don't understand. Maybe I'm just thick, I don't know, but I don't get it.

Are you suggesting that people pay a fee in order to attend the church of their choice? Is this what you mean by church tax? Or do you mean taxing the charitable donations that people give to the church? Or do you mean taxing the churche's actual assets?

It means that everyone is assessed a 10% (or so) income tax like fee, collected by the government and given as a forced tithing to churches.

It's forced charitable giving to religious places.