Montreal is taxing churches (2017)
montreal.ctvnews.ca
Montreal is taxing churches (2017)
1–10 of 335 posts
Re: Montreal is taxing churches (2017)
#2Makes sense to me, and should be done in the US as well. Providing a tax exemption is in a way the opposite of a separation of church and state. The state is giving them special treatment.
Re: Montreal is taxing churches (2017)
#3Makes sense to me, and should be done in the US as well. Providing a tax exemption is in a way the opposite of a separation of church and state. The state is giving them special treatment.
Yes, it's obvious that a religion gets special treatment over say a club and it is unneeded.
Re: Montreal is taxing churches (2017)
#4Churches get a bad rap these days, for many reasons. I want to take a minute to defend them. Right away, I want to say that I am not defending religion-driven bigotry, nor megachurches, nor abuse.
I don't know about Canada, but in the U.S. churches are still where communities meet, where people connect with the spiritual world, and also the ones doing most of the "heavy lifting" on any kind of charity activity.
They are also generally nice and reasonably centrist-progressive, meaning treating everyone respectfully, nor expecting you to sit through a sermon like the old days. (I heard of one place where this may have been the case, but never saw it myself.)
Food Not Bombs might have a weekly freegan cookout, but most of the e.g. feeding people, distributing donated clothes, counseling without having to do paperwork first, food banks, and so on, are done by churches, or church-like organizations, or by people who met at church. There are some exceptions, like in Western Mass and a few places in the Catskills.
Source: Traveled around the U.S. with no base income. I don't go out of my way to take advantage of these things, but I'll go if a friend is going.
Re: Montreal is taxing churches (2017)
#5What's bizarre to me is that they are tax free for worship (in my mind fair enough). But get taxed for hosting community services, e.g., foodbank. Definitely think usage in charitable functions warrants tax exemption as much as service
Re: Montreal is taxing churches (2017)
#6Makes sense to me, and should be done in the US as well. Providing a tax exemption is in a way the opposite of a separation of church and state. The state is giving them special treatment.
Are there any countries where the religious groups are NOT exempt from taxes? I'd be curious if this has been done and those religious groups still managed to remain "open to public" while surviving on private donations.
Re: Montreal is taxing churches (2017)
#7Much needed step considering most religions are more business-like than faith-focused.
Re: Montreal is taxing churches (2017)
#8Makes sense to me, and should be done in the US as well. Providing a tax exemption is in a way the opposite of a separation of church and state. The state is giving them special treatment.
Yes, it's obvious that a religion gets special treatment over say a club and it is unneeded.
How about tax exemptions for clubs too. If it's a group of people pooling money for non commercial activities why should that be taxed?
Re: Montreal is taxing churches (2017)
#9Is it only going to target Christians
or is it finally going to tax
Judism
ISLAM
and all region based venues
Re: Montreal is taxing churches (2017)
#10This article was published in 2017. Have there been any more recent developments?