General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTime to pull tax exempt status from Religious institutes.
Hey the NFL just gave it up and it's kind of a religion.
Seriously. . Pull the status and let people believe what they want to believe.
AuntPatsy
(9,904 posts)yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)No churches, non profit organizations, businesses, nobody. And perhaps charities should not go on tax forms. If you want to donate good for you. No taking it off taxes. Only one deduction should be part of taxes and that is homeowner but even that is debatable. No deduction for marriage or children. How it should work is nobody under 50K pays taxes. Between 51K-100K pay 15 percent. And on from there. The way people try not to pay taxes are putting the country in jeopardy. No tax write offs for saving either.
Agnosticsherbet
(11,619 posts)I agree that we should, it is not going to happen.
Not even a Democratic majority would touch that.
What could be done is that churches who do violate the rules of non-profits should have their status revoked. That is within the law, but politically explosive.
merrily
(45,251 posts)I agree, though. IMO, the exemption should never have existed to begin with.
Agnosticsherbet
(11,619 posts)On December 12, 2012, American Atheists and two co-plaintiffs filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Kentucky demanding that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) stop giving preferential treatment to churches and religious organizations via the process of receiving non-profit tax-exempt status under the Internal Revue Code (IRC) procedures and definitions.IRS
Groups like American Atheists receive tax-exempt status under Internal Revenue Code 501(c)(3) but, because the organization is not classified as religious, it costs American Atheists and other secular non-profits significantly more money each year to maintain that status. In this lawsuit, American atheists and the other plaintiffs are demanding that all tax-exempt organizations, including those characterized as religious by the IRS, have the same requirements to achieve and maintain tax-exempt status.
In order to qualify for nonprofit tax-exempt status, any religious or secular organization must demonstrate it exists to benefit the public. After that basic element is established, religious non-profits are almost always declared automatically tax-exempt under the current IRC rules and definitions. However, secular non-profits face a lengthy application and a fee, which can be as high as $850.
Religious organizations and churches are treated differently from secular organizations. The exemptions are applied in a way that discriminates solely on the basis of whether an entitys members express beliefs and practices accepted as religious. The IRS treats your organization better if you profess belief in a supernatural deity.
If they push this to the Supreme Court and win, this would end the discriminatory practice of allowing churches special privilege.
99Forever
(14,524 posts)How is the hard part.
Terra Alta
(5,158 posts)Especially since Congress is controlled by Republicans, and even a lot of Democrats wouldn't go for this.