IRS Surrenders: Time For Churches to Get ‘Political’ . Bottom line; no more bullying tactics from IRS directed at religious groups who endorse political parties, specific candidates, or political issues. I love it! It's called freedom of speech folks!!!
You mean churches haven't been political since the IRS legislation was first enacted???? Churches and the religious have always involved themselves in the political debate, they just haven't always had the pulpit as a medium for "guiding" their flocks of sheep towards or against particular political candidates or parties. A better system would be for the The government not to support churches at all by way of tax breaks and subsidies, and not to involve itself in deciding what constitutes a church. If churches want to sell their product "salvation", then they ought be taxed like any other commercial enterprise offering "miracle" products to their consumers. Actual charitable activities like operating soup kitchens, shelters for the homeless and so forth should be tax exempt on the same basis that secular charities are. By all means, don't impede "freedom of speech", even from the pulpit, but if the Churches "claiming" to be non-profit organisations are to gorge on the public teat , It would be appropriate for the purposes of good governance for there to be transparency as to just how much and to what purposes State tax breaks to religious institutions are put. The value of tax breaks afforded to churches in the USA runs to many tens of billions of dollars each year....the tax paying public ought to have the information available to it to determine whether or not that is the best way of spending their tax dollars, or whether it is worth carrying the tax burden that churches have been avoiding / evading for such a very long time. If the "Church" of Scientology can weasel their snouts into the public trough of "religion eligible" tax breaks and concessions....then it is quite clear that the system of offering tax breaks to religious institutions is corrupt and needs to be reformed.
I would have no problem with all present tax exempt religious organizations being treat just like any other business organization tax wise. The key word in that sentence is ALL. Politics and religion are still intermingled anyway. Always have been always will be. Secondly, Since colleges and universities choose to hire mostly left wing wackos for professors, and they mercilessly brainwash our young adults for their political purposes, I propose we revoke their tax exempt status also. Heck, if we keep going down this track we can balance the budget and wipe out the debt. I never did like all these religious evangelists fleecing their flocks and living like royality anyway. ie; Jimmy Swagart, Jim Baker, etc etc
Actually Chelloveck, you made some very good points that I agree with. You brought something up deep out of the foggy recesses of my multifaceted brain. When I was on active duty in the Military, once a year they would have a major charity drive. There was a handout of charities you could choose from. They were rated by percentage of Administrative costs verses actual amount of money doing good charity work. I always chose charities that struck my fancy and had admistrative costs under 10 to 25%. If Churches and Secular groups want tax exemption they would have to keep admin under a certain fixed low percentage to qualify. There were some supposedly legitiment charities on that list that had so called admin costs at 90 to 95%. They never got any of my money and would not be tax exempt if it were up to me. . On a lighter note; since this system exists and doesn't seem to be taken seriously, or to be going away anytime soon, I am thinking of getting ordained and starting my own church. Wish me luck.
