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.
Don't you find it funny that an org such as the church is a non-profit? I mean, sure, it has not stakeholders, but woah boy their members get decent salaries. I guess I should incorporate a non-profit.
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 headline is a bit misleading, purely church things are still exempt, side projects a church may be doing are not. A mega church raking in millions: tax free. A small town church running community projects on the side: taxed for every bit of good it does.
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…
Perhaps then the US needs more welfare and more social right, but all that they got is churches and "people of good will".
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…
This is such an important point. It's going to go against the grain at hackernews, but taxing churches in the US is a terrible idea. If you wanted to further the divide between the "liberal city"/"conservative rural" American cultures, this would be a great way to do it. If you grew up in a rural area of the flyover states you would know that churches form the backbone of these rural communities. For example, the chu…
Maybe you could earmark the collected taxes for creating secular alternatives? Or maybe create a system where people don't have to rely on churches and rich people for charity.
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 article makes clear that churches in Montreal are still getting their tax exemption if they stick to purely religious activities (prayer, worship, etc). They are only being taxed when they use their property for not explicitly religious activities like charitable uses, community groups, etc. Do those people applauding this really want to applaud a policy that gives tax exemptions to specifically religious activit…
The tax exemption clearly seems to indicate it is only for religious services. Which means that other charities, including ones without a religious message, are disadvantaged.
While the treatment may still be preferential (it still has some unique tax exemptions), it at least sounds closer to fair. The specifics of the tax law of Montreal are probably unknown to most people here.
I acknowledge this is anecdotal but in the Bay Area CA I drive by many churches (of different faiths) occupying large areas of land on prime hilltop real estate. I’m astonished by this.
Much of that land has been owned by the churches for 100+ years. The land was probably on the edge of town and not so prime back then.
I acknowledge this is anecdotal but in the Bay Area CA I drive by many churches (of different faiths) occupying large areas of land on prime hilltop real estate. I’m astonished by this.
This is such an important point. It's going to go against the grain at hackernews, but taxing churches in the US is a terrible idea. If you wanted to further the divide between the "liberal city"/"conservative rural" American cultures, this would be a great way to do it. If you grew up in a rural area of the flyover states you would know that churches form the backbone of these rural communities. For example, the chu…
Maybe you could earmark the collected taxes for creating secular alternatives? Or maybe create a system where people don't have to rely on churches and rich people for charity.
>Or maybe create a system where people don't have to rely on churches and rich people for charity.
Grow up, there is no utopia and whatever works already is better than nothing.
Sounds fair but why can't these things just be a not for profit? Don't know about the US law, but often in my country there are for-profit non-profit.
> Sounds fair but why can't these things just be a not for profit? They are. There is no difference tax-wise for a non-profit and church.
Afaik churches in the US doesn't even have to report anything, so there's no way to know where the money is from and what they are being used for. That's a pretty big difference
This is such an important point. It's going to go against the grain at hackernews, but taxing churches in the US is a terrible idea. If you wanted to further the divide between the "liberal city"/"conservative rural" American cultures, this would be a great way to do it. If you grew up in a rural area of the flyover states you would know that churches form the backbone of these rural communities. For example, the chu…
Don't you only tax profits? If a church isn't making any, then there'd be nothing to tax?
I don't know about the US tax system, but at least in my experience here in Australia, not every expense incurred by a business or partially-taxed non-profit is necessarily deductible. For example, I formed a company with some friends for the purpose of work on a single contract, and the expenses we incurred in incorporating the company were only deductible at a rate of 20% per year over 5 years, so we ended up having to pay tax without being able to deduct most of that particular set of expenses during the 1 year we were in operation.