21–30 of 335 posts
Churches 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…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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?
The important distinction between non-profits and churches in the US is that churches do not have to demonstrate that they aren’t a just a profit generating company (see Scientology, many evangelical churches) - they don’t have to provide any documentation at all.
I’m fine with churches being untaxed non-profits, as long as they actually demonstrate that.
Makes 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.
> The state is giving them special treatment. No it's not. All non-profits are untaxed. If you are going to charge churches, then charge all non-profits. Personally I think that's a bad policy.
Makes 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.
Churches 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…
Makes 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.