Should churches and clergy pay regular taxes? Why should the fireman teacher and nurse have to work to support the freeloading clergy? How is that a separation of church and state?
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Early in America's history the Supreme Court declared "the power to tax is the power to destroy", McCulloch v. Maryland, 1819. The First Amendment prohibits any law which prohibits the free exercise of religion. Any attempt to tax churches would be challenged on the grounds that that tax prohibits the free exercise of religion. The challenge would probably succeed. It would take a Constitutional Amendment to tax churches. Don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen.
Prophet
Level 2
Dec 17, 2018
1
Absolutely so, and the money should go into funding Universal Health Care, just as Jesus would have wanted it to go.
Nevermind345
Level 7
Dec 2, 2018
2
It’s seperation of Church and state because of our Declaration of Independence from England was based upon taxation without representation.
So if we tax churches and their clergy then they will be entitled to hold and/or create political positions within our government and I don’t need to remind anyone how that worked for Europe and now the Middle East
48thRonin
Level 8
Nov 25, 2018
0
@Bobby9 Ok Bobby so our independence from England had absolutely nothing to do with taxation without representation?
Because my books said ummm yes it did.
And books written by men such as Thomas Payne, Ben Franklin and Jefferson pretty much state they didn’t want any church to have the ability to have a controlling interest in our government such as the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England.
But if you can show where your concept came from I’ll be willing to check it out. Well unless you pulled it from your ass then I’ll pass.
Firefighters p c
fmalowski
Level 3
Nov 24, 2018
1
You are correct Frank.....if I've offended, I apologize. Based on the age of the post....it won't let me edit? Interesting fact....there are about 386,000 paid firefighters in the US. (2/3 are volunteers) Of those actively engaged in firefighting about 4% are women.....of those, about 7% identify as Athiest or Agnostic...leaving roughly 1080 godless woman firefighters in the US who pay taxes to support freeloading clergy in their communities. Intersting but not to say that anyone can't be offended by gender biased language.
No offense, just trying to make the world perfect. Ha
To the extent that their “income” is derived from donations of their members, no. To the extent that they raise money by sales, yes.
Santanaman9
Level 7
Nov 23, 2018
0
I'm pretty sure firemen, most teachers, and some nurses work for not for profit organizations. So yes it is an unfair advantage for churches. In some cases a huge advantage. Why do you think The Church Of Scientology fought vigorously for many years to get that status. It was a mega windfall for them. Now with the new RFRA laws it seems very relaxed. We had a guy in Indiana file for and get religious tax exempt status for yes, The First Church Of Cannabis.
WayneMan
Level 5
Nov 21, 2018
0
I guess I'll play devil's advocate here. According to the tax code Churches are non-for-profit organizations, like Rotary or the Cancer Society, which are exempt from taxes because as a society we want to encourage their work in providing beneficial services to the public. You and I might question the value of some of the services they provide (religious counseling, ministry work, etc.), although many churches do a lot of good work in their communities.
I would argue that it would be discriminatory to not allow churches to have not-for-profit tax status just because we don't agree with the premise of their faith. But I'd be happy to hear someone argue why they shouldn't qualify...
RationalThinker
Level 4
Nov 21, 2018
0
To the extent that churches are doing real charitable work I would agree....I was speaking more about clergy and pastoral employees of the church who receive enormous tax deductions not available to secular citizens. The biggest is the home exemption or 'parsonage' exemption that can totally shield the entire amount of income from any federal taxes and often does. Clergy are also exemt from paying FICA taxes under certain circumstances. ......
I worked on a Job a few doors down from the American Cancer Headquarters in NYC. I believe its on East 57st and you could not get into the door. Everyone drove a Mercedes Benz which was parked under the Bldg. I also worked at Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in NYC where I think the cheapest operation goes for like 50k+ and people come from all over the world to get treatment. The rooms start at 4K a night which is why the outpatient runs 12 hrs a day.. People standing out in the street with an IV hookup smoking a joint. Like the Drug Companies they have the cure but will never let you know.
Of course they should taxes.The reason they do not taxes is because the majority of the pathetic,indoctrinated public love and support these stupid monuments to superstition and are in favor of them not paying taxes
nonbelieverx
Level 6
Nov 21, 2018
2
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