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Why Are Religions Tax-Exempt?

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    #32
    minidazzler
    Registered Users Posts: 14,739 ✭✭✭✭minidazzler


    af_thefragile wrote: »
    As I mentioned, its much more important to make sure all the wealthy/elite and their corporations pay their taxes properly first before you get to the church. Their sum in taxes is much larger than what the church would have.

    I prefer to lump the church in their with the wealthy. I know of no priest that lives the life of poverty they swore an oath to. All have a warm house, plenty of clothing, plenty of food, cars, TV's and most other comforts.

    They are employee's and should be taxed as such.


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    #33
    Kasabian
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,689 ✭✭✭Kasabian


    Every church should have any money they receive taxed at 99%, then eventually they will go away and free people to live.

    I was raised a Catholic, raised in fear of a load of bolloxology.

    Catholic religion is destructive in the moulding of young imrpressionable minds and i am not talking about it's problems with molestation, I am talking about the engrained guilt it imposes on people and in doing so doesn't allow people to live properly.
    I am around a few years and i still have to check myself when that guilt tweaks my brain.


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    #34
    Cookie_Monster
    Registered Users Posts: 24,485 ✭✭✭✭Cookie_Monster


    partyatmygaff wrote: »
    You cannot tax a non-profit entity that relies almost entirely on donations. .

    why not?

    It has earnings in the form of collections
    it has expenses like wages and sweeties for luring children
    it has capital costs, like the roof expense (that every church always seems to have)
    and it has the dividend to Rome

    sounds like a taxable service business to me


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    #35
    starbelgrade
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,739 ✭✭✭✭starbelgrade


    partyatmygaff wrote: »
    You cannot tax a non-profit entity that relies almost entirely on donations. Just because you personally think the church should be taxed doesn't mean that it should.

    You can tax anything if the government of the day pass a bill to do so.


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    #36
    jhegarty
    Registered Users Posts: 6,438 ✭✭✭jhegarty


    minidazzler wrote: »
    I prefer to lump the church in their with the wealthy. I know of no priest that lives the life of poverty they swore an oath to. All have a warm house, plenty of clothing, plenty of food, cars, TV's and most other comforts.

    They are employee's and should be taxed as such.

    But, they are taxed.


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    #37
    partyatmygaff
    Registered Users Posts: 10,992 ✭✭✭✭partyatmygaff


    ScumLord wrote: »
    I wouldn't consider the church non-profit, they display their profit all over the world.
    "The Church". What is "The Church"? I don't see how they display their profit all over the world, they aren't selling anything to anyone. Their only income is through voluntary donations.


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    #38
    partyatmygaff
    Registered Users Posts: 10,992 ✭✭✭✭partyatmygaff


    minidazzler wrote: »
    They are employee's and should be taxed as such.
    They are taxed...

    But wait, keep going on with your uninformed rants like everyone else, it's entertaining at least.


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    #39
    Cookie_Monster
    Registered Users Posts: 24,485 ✭✭✭✭Cookie_Monster


    partyatmygaff wrote: »
    "The Church". What is "The Church"? I don't see how they display their profit all over the world, they aren't selling anything to anyone. Their only income is through voluntary donations.

    or not in fact
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_tax


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    #40
    starbelgrade
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,739 ✭✭✭✭starbelgrade


    partyatmygaff wrote: »
    "The Church". What is "The Church"? I don't see how they display their profit all over the world, they aren't selling anything to anyone.

    Yes they are & always have done.. redemption & the promise of an afterlife.

    They could sell sand to the Arabs.

    If the Arabs weren't Muslim, that is.


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    #41
    WIZE
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,597 ✭✭✭WIZE


    when i lived in Germany i had to pay church as in because i was catholic the Gov taxed me and gave it to the church :eek:


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    #42
    Ghandee
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,653 ✭✭✭Ghandee


    It has been a well known fact that religions,(Christianity in particular) have been opposed to tax for THOUSANDS of years now!

    (especially since Jesus was hammered with them in Jerusalem!)


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    #43
    coffee_cake
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Politics Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 81,309 CMod ✭✭✭✭coffee_cake


    WIZE wrote: »
    when i lived in Germany i had to pay church as in because i was catholic the Gov taxed me and gave it to the church :eek:

    Yep, tithing is srs bzns
    No "ah yeah I don't believe any of it but I'm still catholic"


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    #44
    starbelgrade
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,739 ✭✭✭✭starbelgrade


    Gucky wrote: »
    It has been a well known fact that religions,(Christianity in particular) have been opposed to tax for THOUSANDS of years now!

    (especially since Jesus was hammered with them in Jerusalem!)

    I thought Jesus was hammered with nails.


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    #45
    Cookie_Monster
    Registered Users Posts: 24,485 ✭✭✭✭Cookie_Monster


    Gucky wrote: »
    It has been a well known fact that religions,(Christianity in particular) have been opposed to tax for THOUSANDS of years now!

    then why do they catholic church derive most of their income from it if they are so agin it?


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    #46
    ScumLord
    Registered Users Posts: 28,789 ✭✭✭✭ScumLord


    partyatmygaff wrote: »
    "The Church". What is "The Church"? I don't see how they display their profit all over the world, they aren't selling anything to anyone. Their only income is through voluntary donations.
    They are selling things like mass cards (€10 a pop last I heard), mass itself, I'm sure there are other things too like weddings and funerals..

    They display there wealth in their churches which aren't cheap not even the new ones. Our local priest drove a brand new Audi, fair enough he seems to be an exception but he flaunted his wealth like I've never seen a priest do before him.


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    #47
    partyatmygaff
    Registered Users Posts: 10,992 ✭✭✭✭partyatmygaff


    Cookie_Monster wrote: »
    or not in fact
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_tax
    Irrelevant to the discussion. We're talking about the situation in Ireland.
    starbelgrade wrote: »
    Yes they are & always have done.. redemption & the promise of an afterlife.
    I don't see how they're "selling" anything. They are offering a place for a community of people to pray and practice their religion. Even so, they don't profit from any of this so long as the churchgoer doesn't make a donation.


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    #48
    af_thefragile
    Registered Users Posts: 7,171 ✭✭✭af_thefragile


    Tbh, I don't believe in organised religion so I couldn't care less if the Church was taxed.

    I just say any charitable organisation shouldn't be taxed as they work on donations, not on sales.

    Its like if you give your kid 100eur to spend as a gift, do you expect your kid to pay a tax on those 100eur?
    Same principle.


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    #49
    Kasabian
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,689 ✭✭✭Kasabian


    WIZE wrote: »
    when i lived in Germany i had to pay church as in because i was catholic the Gov taxed me and gave it to the church :eek:

    I think this goes back to WW2 when the Catholic church recieved money to turn a blind eye to genocide.


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    #50
    thetonynator
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,234 ✭✭✭thetonynator


    Kasabian wrote: »
    Every church should have any money they receive taxed at 99%, then eventually they will go away and free people to live.

    I was raised a Catholic, raised in fear of a load of bolloxology.

    Catholic religion is destructive in the moulding of young imrpressionable minds and i am not talking about it's problems with molestation, I am talking about the engrained guilt it imposes on people and in doing so doesn't allow people to live properly.
    I am around a few years and i still have to check myself when that guilt tweaks my brain.


    People dont need to be ''freed'' they are part of the church entirely of their own free will. (In ireland that is)

    starbelgrade wrote: »
    Yes they are & always have done.. redemption & the promise of an afterlife.

    They could sell sand to the Arabs.

    If the Arabs weren't Muslim, that is.


    They do not sell the promise of an afterlife, the members of the church believe in the afterlife and the church ideas do not change depending on how much someone pays to them. Not since the reformation anyway.


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    #51
    starbelgrade
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,739 ✭✭✭✭starbelgrade


    WIZE wrote: »
    when i lived in Germany i had to pay church as in because i was catholic the Gov taxed me and gave it to the church :eek:

    You could have declared that you were no longer a member of the Catholic church & you wouldn't have had to pay it.


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    #52
    ScumLord
    Registered Users Posts: 28,789 ✭✭✭✭ScumLord


    thetonynator wrote: »
    People dont need to be ''freed'' they are part of the church entirely of their own free will. (In ireland that is)
    Brainwashing children isn't free will.


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    #53
    partyatmygaff
    Registered Users Posts: 10,992 ✭✭✭✭partyatmygaff


    ScumLord wrote: »
    They are selling things like mass cards (€10 a pop last I heard), mass itself, I'm sure there are other things too like weddings and funerals..
    Never heard of them. I amn't a Catholic but even so these "mass cards" must have some purpose i.e. raising funds for the running of the church
    They display there wealth in their churches which aren't cheap not even the new ones. Our local priest drove a brand new Audi, fair enough he seems to be an exception but he flaunted his wealth like I've never seen a priest do before him.
    You aren't seeing it from their perspective. They see a church as a house of god (Most denominations do at least) and they see that it must be made as such. Your local priest isn't "the church" though. He may have been saving up for the new car since he was young, he may have took out a car loan. Either way, one person doesn't define an entire entity.


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    #54
    jhegarty
    Registered Users Posts: 6,438 ✭✭✭jhegarty


    Kasabian wrote: »
    I think this goes back to WW2 when the Catholic church recieved money to turn a blind eye to genocide.

    No , the law is from 1919. Long before Hitler.

    But don't let facts get in the way of a good godwin.


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    #55
    Cookie_Monster
    Registered Users Posts: 24,485 ✭✭✭✭Cookie_Monster


    partyatmygaff wrote: »
    Irrelevant to the discussion. We're talking about the situation in Ireland.

    well your post did say "all over the world" in it...
    and Ireland is just a subsidiary of the main organisation head quartered elsewhere in the world too...

    But if you want to restrict it to Ireland they use a combination of guilt and fear to extort money out of naive people, just like any cult does.


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    #56
    WIZE
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,597 ✭✭✭WIZE


    yep . and the problem was you could only get out of it by getting a letter from a priest to say you are no longer a catholic

    i think the tax was 5 euro a month
    multiple that by 10s of millions of catholics in germany and its some revenue


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    #57
    partyatmygaff
    Registered Users Posts: 10,992 ✭✭✭✭partyatmygaff


    ScumLord wrote: »
    Brainwashing children isn't free will.
    Who's brainwashing anyone? Parents send their children to school and if they choose not for their children to receive an education in religion then they can be excused from all religious classes. The parents choose what they think is best for their children and they exercise their own free will on behalf of their children.


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    #58
    Cookie_Monster
    Registered Users Posts: 24,485 ✭✭✭✭Cookie_Monster


    thetonynator wrote: »
    People dont need to be ''freed'' they are part of the church entirely of their own free will. (In ireland that is)

    not really, you become part of the church due to your parents actions (generally: ie baptism) and actually have to go to a reasonable amount of effort to make it clear you no longer wish to be a part of it after that.
    If it was free will alone than you should not be baptised or given communion until 18 when you are legally old enough to be an adult and legally entitled to make your own decisions for yourself.


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    #59
    WIZE
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,597 ✭✭✭WIZE


    starbelgrade wrote: »
    You could have declared that you were no longer a member of the Catholic church & you wouldn't have had to pay it.
    not that easy


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    #60
    Kasabian
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,689 ✭✭✭Kasabian


    thetonynator wrote: »
    People dont need to be ''freed'' they are part of the church entirely of their own free will. (In ireland that is)

    Really! How many kids do you see protesting as the water is poured over their heads or when they get roped in with the communion and confirmation money, by this age the church has left it's impression

    Your post is bollix


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    #61
    Ghandee
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,653 ✭✭✭Ghandee


    Cookie_Monster wrote: »
    then why do they catholic church derive most of their income from it if they are so agin it?

    Pardon the pun, but it was a joke for Christs sake!


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