Can you explain more about paying taxes to the church? I haven't heard of this occurring anywhere, but I know different countries have different rules.
umm, no I don't. everyone pays taxes by default. it is you who needs to say something more persuasive than churches should not pay taxes because they are churches.
It's not just like any other though, it already recieves huge tax relief. Not to mention the esitmated worth in 2018 at least was 30 Billion $
> The Internal Revenue Service automatically considers churches exempt. The reasoning behind making churches tax-exempt and unburdened by IRS procedures stems from a First Amendment-based concern to prevent government involvement with religion.
So it's okay not to pay taxes, but it can petition to recieve some. Doesn't add up.
They are stealing from everyone. Churches do not pay taxes. This is supposed to be contingent on not engaging in politics and actually acting like a non-profit.
If we subject churches to taxes, then if you church is paying a significant chunk of money to taxes, then your church is not spending the money on charity like it should be.
If your church is spending the money it receives, that spending is deductible. Spend it and you won't pay a tax.
I just read yesterday that there is a similar process for churches. Churches are automatically exempt from paying taxes because of the first amendment. But if they sign up to be a 501(c)(3), then apparently they still don't have to pay taxes, but are now subject to a whole litany (no pun intended) of laws.
[EDIT] Personally this has resulted in a philosophical challenge because I was under the impression churches were being given a free ride by not paying taxes; this is not the case. They have a constitutional right to not pay taxes.
Church tax is only collected if the matching religious group has asked the state to do so. Non-christian churches can do so too, and if you're not a member of any of these you don't pay church tax.
Any church that engages in for-profit activities is already taxed. The only "special" treatment churches get is they're assumed by default to be non-profits while other non-profits have to apply for the status.
I'm curious where you're from. In the US, the government being separate from religion is a pretty big deal so having taxes going to churches at all would seem strange.
The system in the US, for instance, isn't that non-believers fund churches with their tax money, it's that no one funds churches with tax money at all, members of the church donate directly to the church.
(Before someone comments, yes churches are often tax-exempt like other charities and non-profits, but that is different from actually receiving money from the government)
Not collecting taxes on something that might otherwise be taxed is not the same as someone taking your money via taxes and using it to pay for something. What does it cost you if the government doesn't tax your local church?
Churches owe taxes because they conduct business in the United States. The government pays those taxes instead. That's a subsidy.
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