Churches, Mosques, Synagoges, Dhams....all of them are tax free here in America. Why not tax them? They are clearly businesses, and IMO should not be excused from taxation. What say you Clutchfans? To tax or not to tax? Also, some of our foreign posters, what sort of taxation do these establishments face in your region? Thanks, DD
I wouldn't call my church a business. We don't turn a profit. Every penny our church "earns" goes back into the church (e.g. staff salaries, pay for programs, etc.) or to charity. The only money we get comes directly or indirectly from parishioner contributions. Don't business generally sell a product or service to generate income?
How bout churches with a strictly lay clergy? (meaning no one gets paid) I agree that some churches run like a business, but not all of them do.
Not only that, but non-profits do that as well. Girl scout cookies or Goodwill stores, for example. Non-profits have always been allowed to engage in profit-generating activities.
The salaries of the employees go up if they have a good year, or the church builds a bigger building or gymnasium etc.... Calling them a zero sum business is a sham, IMO. DD
How is that any different from Goodwill or Red Cross paying their employees more, or building new facilities?
Discussion begins and ends right here. They're not-for-profit entities. Salaries of pastors/staff are taxed at the personal level as income
Let me get this straight. I get paid $50,000 a year, i get taxed for 35% of it, and end up getting $32,500. I decide to donate $5,000 to my local church, and you think my money should get taxed again before it can get to the church. Church "earnings" come from money that has already been taxed. Do you think it's right to charge taxes on charity donations to the poor and unfortunate as well?
Think of it this way though, if you decided to buy a car, that business is taxed on the money they made selling you the car, or if you buy a service (sort of what a church is) that money is taxed as income there as well. I view churches as a service industry, they should be taxed, IMO. DD
The question is what impact would this have? If they are taxed . . . would my donation still be a tax deduction? Will the funds/assistance they give to the poor etc be taxed? [if they give someone poor 100$ on there electric bill . . will taxes need to be taken out of the 100$?] I think this will make them worse not better Rocket River
Sure, keep that around to encourage the donating. No, they would have the same rights as corporations on donating to the needy etc. It would be taxed if they gave them the cash, but if they paid the bill for them, no... Fair enough, I believe they are in the business of selling religion.... DD
Perhaps tax only missionary funds? Since this would be the most akin to standard business, i.e., you sell the religion to reap future rewards (donations). Or barring that, at least tax the property.
That's a very poor argument, IMO. As DD pointed out, the same argument could be used to say that no company's earnings should be taxed because they come from income that has already been taxed.
Again, who is benefiting if the church makes a profit? They don't have stockholders and they don't have an owner. Every penny we make goes towards staff salaries (which are taxed as is any job), debt reduction (the parishioners pay for the church buildings - we get no government help, even with infrastructure) or charitable activities/organizations. Granted, there are some nefarious churches out there that are for profit, but the better option is to go after those guys than punish the churches truly run as churches should be.
That income does get taxed just at the level of the employees. The church wouldn't be making a profit and wouldn't get taxed anyway if they were taking the increased donations and spending them. The problem I have is the parsonage allowance for clergy. I don't think they should get housing tax free and on top of that they can deduct their mortgage interest just like everyone else(Military has the same deal with their housing allowance). The parsonage allowance many of these people get is ridiculous, and they often just say that their housing expenses were greater than the parsonage allowance just to take full advantage of it. Of the 10 or so Clergy clients that I've had, I would say 2 don't cheat on their taxes and don't receive outlandish benefits from the church/synagogue.
I'm no tax expert (far from it since all I've ever filed was that EZ1040 or whatever), but it depends on which tax. Property tax? Yeah, they should pay it. Income tax? No.
