I think they should definitely pay taxes. Or at least ones that make a certain % more than their overhead costs, like land, electricity etc.
Edit: Because this was mostly me asking the flood, I decided to research it more.
This is the best info I have I found
http://churchesandtaxes.procon.org/
So my final conclusion is that if religious institutions were paying taxes it would cause a breach in the separation of church and state, and it would create a large conflict of interest. So at this juncture it seems things are better left as is.
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I believe we call that separation of church and state. Good idea though
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I think no because a lot of churches (like mine) are very low funded and are funded by donations. Also many churches (also like mine) help out the community immensely by hosting fundraisers, renting out community halls and volunteering
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Colleges should.
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oh great more ways for the government to steal people's property. We should totally do this because taxes totally aren't theft. In fact we're so far in hey why not tax everything? Getting payed to work? Taxed. Buying something? Taxed. Owning a -blam!-ing piece of land with a house on it! Taxed! Why not tax breathing or sleeping? Those sound like great -blam!-ing ideas!
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I feel like this people should be helping the homeless anyways.
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Edited by DeterrentGem27: 3/1/2015 1:50:56 AMYes. As should groups of people who are tax exempt due to their religion.
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What happens if a religious institution can't or doesn't pay their taxes? Will it be seized by the government? In which case, I could see the potential for a lot of problems. What if those institutions are housing holy relics and other objects that religious people hold sacred? There would be outrage and possibly even violent social unrest. As an Orthodox Christian, I wouldn't like to see our pride and joy in America the Joy of All Who Sorrow in San Francisco be seized if we couldn't pay our taxes, and have the holy relics of St. John Maximovitch--one of our only American saints--be taken from us by the government. I think religious institutions should be tax exempt provided that they stay out of politics. But the ones that DO get involved in politics, tell their congregations how to vote, and secretly fund religious-right political organizations should pay taxes. It's a two way street.
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Here's the problem - some churches and religious organizations want to influence legislation. If you want to have a place in the political process, you shouldn't be exempt from taxation.
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Yes but only if we can tax athiest organizations. ^_^ [spoiler]Bring on the h8, [b]h8ters[/b][/spoiler]
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I don't see why not but instead of trying to pull more money for welfare they could, you know, fix the welfare system.
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Absolutely they should. Also, private schools shouldn't be publicly funded
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Wouldn't this technically be taxation without representation? Correct me if I'm wrong.
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I don't see why we should tax a non-profit organization.
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Yes! Why shouldn't they? They have some damn good locations lol
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I think that churches should be taxed: they're all about tithing and giving to the needy, aren't they?
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*facedesk*
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I think more people need to pay taxes.
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Not unless it's a really big church that has no problems. I think If they make double the overhead then taxes should be enforced. My church had to close because they had trouble paying overhead and additional fees and other payments.
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Maybe make the nfl, ncaa and "non- profit" hospitals pay taxes first.
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I can't speak for every church, but the people who attend them tend to be extremely charitable to begin with, and lots of them are involved in community services already. You'd be stunting that and forcing the money through inefficient government programs.
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No, I want to use that church donation as a write off when I go to pay my taxes. So I will pay less of course.
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No, because most of these establishments can barely afford to stay afloat as is. They don't bring in income.
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Yes. Because what we need is more taxes, not less spending. Hell, let's just tax anything and everything we can think of, that would solve all our problems. Do you eat meat? Tax. Do you eat plants? Tax. Do you wear shoes? Tax. Are you alive? Tax. Are you dead? Tax.
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yes they should