HI Y,all!, please your heartfelt opinions, Should all Churches and their Pastors be taxed?

Personally, I don't care one way or the other.

Nobody should be taxed

Only if they're on duty to doing their own job......if not~~~~~free religion usually due with the scense of war......you know....there are words in china like this...."the sin of the sin is lazy......" just look backward of the history.....every time the whole socialty started getting fat and the step of techs getting slow......then the corruptions spread......trust me......all the religion have golden words like this....."No one can be immoral...." the tax it self is kind of solution to avoid things ugly shows up......but if the religion it self working healthy......then it will be the issues on another hand.....and that "hand"......

excellent question:

i will answer this from my own personal view and a biblical scripture view.

before i answer, remember that i am a believer in God and the church.

both of my answers and reasoning i give will be towards the answer YES.


1) i believe any pastor making 100k plus housing and vehicle allowance should definitely have to pay their share of taxes.

why?

because this would actually separate the con artist from the actual person trying to do the will of God.

these mega churches raking in 10 million per year would be forced to pay almost 1/3 of that which typically goes into the pastors bank account. cut that from him/her and we just might see if that pastor is for real or not.


2) Pharisees came to Yeshua [Jesus] and asked about this very question. Yeshua answered, give me a coin. He looked at the coin and noticed it had the emblem of Caesar on it. He then replied, Give to God which is God's and give to those in control which is in control.

explanation:

today's churches get 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 dollar bills via offerings and tithes. those emblems on each bill note is of a president. the president represents the government. this means the church is funded by money issued by the government. and if a church is following the true example of Yeshua, it will pay taxes to the system that prints money [government].


so yes, i feel the church and pastors should pay taxes

I would say no, in the spirit of separating church from state, I feel that the taxes on the patrons whose contributions fund the church should be enough. I also dont believe in taxation without representation. as difficult as it is to include and represent the many sub groups in America, the fact that the government legally CANNOT represent religion, I dont believe religious based institutions should be taxed.

How would we pay for police, fire service etc.

obtain from the people and serve the people......the same orth back to the Medival......and the original Taxs was food then the Iron the coin.......then?

NOT taxing churches is a tradition in the US, but I think it's a complicated one.

I think PART of why they are not taxed, is rooted in the same protection of individual freedom of belief that is behind the First Amendment; but part of it is also a CONTRADICTION of our traditional opposition to state-supported religion.

Part of the agreement of sorts that we have had between government and religion, has been that just as government will not intercede into or try to control the activities of the churches, that the churches in turn, would not try to become governmental functionaries, or to directly affect the course of politics. THAT agreement is under attack now, perhaps more than it ever has been before, and I think that is worrisome, both for the sake of the integrity of our government, AND for the sake of the independence of the faiths themselves.

In the case of taxation in particular, those who want ALL church activities and involvements to go untaxed, and be unlimited, are effectively demanding that certain "politically approved" churches, are to have the unlimited direct support of the government, while owing no responsibility whatsoever to the bulk of the American people who are NOT members of each church.

It is still State Religion, even if you say that "you can be a member of any of these approved religions, and get free everything, but not a member of any other religion, and you cannot claim to be a non-believer."

There is a difference between an employee of a church - a pastor - paying income taxes and a non-profit charity - a church - paying taxes.

if goverment is no more the church still there......just remember this.......hell~even don't want to chat about this ........more close to the truth people will be more confuse doubt and started infecting the blood of that thing......

I agree with the idea that no one should be taxed.
Forcibly at least.
Like the military it should be voluntary.
Like voting it should be relatively anonymous.

But if giant megacorporations are/can be taxed, then so to should churches, IMO.
But no bailouts, please. For either. No more too big to fail crap for anyone.

I do not believe gifts/donations/charity should be taxed.
No real difference between giving a bum a $1 and putting $1 in the collection plate at church. I do believe all donations above a certain amount made to an organization "should" be made public knowledge, though.
I don't see that as "income."
But if the church buys electricity, food, clothing, buys/sells real estate, candles, participates in the local business economy, it should pay sales tax.

I think Pastors are already taxed except when they spend money on church business.

If the churches are profiting from a business model of operations regardless of the money source, or 'not for profit' status, then they should be taxed like a business.

Individual members should not be taxed, just like all wage earners should not be.

In Australia Corporation, the War tax was created decades ago, taking income from families to help fund world war slaughter for the entertainment and profit of European bankers and industrialists. After the war, the tax was re-named 'Income Tax', and remained; and now profitable businesses want to pay less and burden families more.

Churches are businesses, and their servants are not, unless contractors.

Some 'churches' are worth millions in income, and their operators live in total luxury.

Unable to fit through the eye of the needle - tax them ! So fatter than a donkey.
The needle is a small entrance to the city, in a guard tower.

I would suggest tax leniency for churches which are actively assisting and giving reparations to their paedophile victims.

I think churches should be taxed but a lower percentage than a business would be. Tax on what they take in and property taxes too.

But many Pastors work a job outside of being a Pastor, so they already pay taxes.

Pastors, and all church staff, pay income taxes.

Re thinking this, IF ALL churches are being taxed and not any one singled out, then technically the government is not establishing any ONE religion or prohibiting any ONE religion

I agree then that the model of the church as profit or non profit should follow tax rules for any other profit or non profit entity ...

I just finished building a church annex facility for the Archdiocese of N.Y.

What a eye opening experience. getting paid aside ( like pulling teeth)

each church is responsible for repairs/ additions/ capital improvements. They then must get bids and submit them to the Archdiocese for review. Then they must apply for a load from the archdiocese at a certain % interest rate and at a predetermined pay back timeframe. The can not go outside the church "bank" each church is then responsible for paying back that loan.. on time thru pleading with their parishioners and fund drives. If you do not pay back your loan on time it is a ... really bad thing.

Every church is under a lot of constant pressure to maintain their church's and raise the money. And while you walk into most churches and see beauty, talk a walk thru the rectory.... most are crumbling and falling apart. I was shocked at what I saw in some.

So I say yes, tax them, what the hell, they are already taxing their own people and making some good bucks in doing it.

And I'm catholic so its not dissing another religion . Just the truth.

all religions & its services shoud b taxed... but also there should be transparancy by govt. to show public, what it's doing of tax payers money

I'll admit, KFC has the best coleslaw.
But, Church's has better fried chicken.


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As to the question in the original post...
Houses of worship, should maintain tax
exempt status.