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SEC charges the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

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Re: SEC charges the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

#21

Post by brink »

sjsdaiuasgdia wrote: post #9
willk wrote: post #5

I think we really should be looking at the tax-exempt status of religious organizations have that subsidiaries that are doing their taxes and setting up shell companies to hide where money is coming/going.

Better to just get rid of the tax exempt status for religious organizations altogether. They can operate like any other non-profit and be subject to that set of rules, or they can be a regular corporation and be subject to a different set of rules. The religious exemption is a big regulatory gap that doesn't need to exist.

I'm a religious type and I agree; making churches tax-exempt corrupts the church.

Re: SEC charges the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

#23

Post by telaelit »

There should no longer be tax-exempt status for religious organizations that have committed so many violations for so many years. In fact I think there should be stipulations if you want to be tax exempt, like you have to have all of your finances be public so the people who give to your organization know exactly where the money is going.

Re: SEC charges the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

#24

Post by tombert »

Nearly every Baptist church/preacher I have seen explicitly endorsed Donald Trump in 2020, and calls Joe Biden an election thief (or one of a dozen other conspiracies).

My understanding is that this is in direct violation of their tax-free status [1]. Maybe we should actually start enforcing this.

[1] https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/charities-churches-and-politics

EDIT:

I couldn't remember the name of the thing that states this, but here it is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnson_Amendment

Re: SEC charges the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

#26

Post by sjsdaiuasgdia »

jjtheblunt wrote: post #11
willk wrote: post #5

I think we really should be looking at the tax-exempt status of religious organizations have that subsidiaries that are doing their taxes and setting up shell companies to hide where money is coming/going.

Simpler : if churches get tax-exempt status, then they are bound to the state in receiving that status, and violate separation of church and state? I haven't been able to find where tax exempt status for churches is established, and I've looked, but not my area of expertise at all. What if the goverment were to just stop giving churches tax exempt status? (edit: clearer)

This seems to be a reasonable overview of the history, though I haven't done much vetting of it: https://churchesandtaxes.procon.org/history-of-churches-and-...

Re: SEC charges the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

#27

Post by crisdux »

jjtheblunt wrote: post #11
willk wrote: post #5

I think we really should be looking at the tax-exempt status of religious organizations have that subsidiaries that are doing their taxes and setting up shell companies to hide where money is coming/going.

Simpler : if churches get tax-exempt status, then they are bound to the state in receiving that status, and violate separation of church and state? I haven't been able to find where tax exempt status for churches is established, and I've looked, but not my area of expertise at all. What if the goverment were to just stop giving churches tax exempt status? (edit: clearer)

The separation of church and state is not about preventing any kind of relationship between religious institutions and the government. Rather, it is about ensuring that the government does not establish an official state religion, and that it remains neutral towards different religious beliefs and practices.

Re: SEC charges the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

#28

Post by InCityDreams »

brink wrote: post #21
sjsdaiuasgdia wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Better to just get rid of the tax exempt status for religious organizations altogether. They can operate like any other non-profit and be subject to that set of rules, or they can be a regular corporation and be subject to a different set of rules. The religious exemption is a big regulatory gap that doesn't need to exist.

I'm a religious type and I agree; making churches tax-exempt corrupts the church.

Maybe you have faith and they're well, just religious.....

Re: SEC charges the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

#29

Post by rileymat2 »

henning wrote: post #13

Revoke the tax-exempt status of religious organizations that engage in political speech.

There are rules against election specific speech, but more broadly shouldn’t charities be able to engage in political speech with respect to policy efforts? I would think it strange that a charity could not promote its mission in the political arena.

Re: SEC charges the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

#30

Post by yieldcrv »

anigbrowl wrote: post #2

- $5 million in fines, for - 22 years of willful reporting violations - using 13 shell companies - to conceal ownership of a $32 billion portfolio I'm sure they're gutted by this ~0.016% fine.

I feel worse for the whistleblower that probably reported that

They thought they were going to get a much bigger payday by reporting the malfeasance of a 32 billion portfolio

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