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They should just follows taxation laws just like everyone elses. However I believe a number of them are non-profit therefore they don't have to pay any taxes since a profit isn't made at any periods.
Depends on the church, I don't think they all go for non-profit actions.
Agreed if they aren't of non profit nature they should be paying just like Amazon should be (in most cases, Amazon in 2019 actually didn't turn a cent in profit so they were able to legally and ethically spared being taxed).
Yes. Churches abuse the money they get in "tithes". Most do not use it to help the poor or donate it. Religious Missions turn into family vacations. Because of this, most churches are violating the Lemon Test and Establishment Clause therefore they should be forced to pay. I think the US government needs to make the church system pay up.
I suppose they should if by law they had to. The majority of churches by law don't have to pay taxes and just because they may be making money on donations, doesn't mean they're required. However it really comes down to the law because everyone is expected to follow the law.
I think they should. What gets me is people tend to view (not all mind you) Christianity as NOT a religion. Yet they are in the Religious Category to be exempt from taxes. Either they are a religion or they are milking the system.
The tax church movement is more of an anti-religion / atheist thing than a legitimate source of getting income. Churches operate as a non-profit organizations just like the Salvation Army and Goodwill. The main focus and target of this anger are towards these so-called megachurches, which are actually fewer than what people believe.
Heck in my city there's a church inside an old store.
Heck in my city there's a church inside an old store.
Yes, I don't see why any religious organisation should be exempt from taxes, to be honest. But like Empire mentioned near the top, they should probably focus on the big corporations not paying enough tax first (Amazon, Google etc.)
Whenever one entity is exempt, others pay. So really, there is no such thing as exemption, when another takes the burden. If the justification for the exemption is charity, then give credit to charity organizations but still tax churches. I don't understand the concern is that churches would want representation, they already have tax exemption and freedom to practice religion even without paying taxes, what more would they want?
Do they all though, I think there are a lot of churches that are far from non-profit and a lot of preachers/pastors/priests/whatever-they-are-called who are making a LOT of money.
Yes, that isn't the case for the more 'traditional' churches, but it does seem to be the case in a lot of others.
Disclaimer: I am an atheist and believe that organised religion is responsible for more cruelty, hatred, and bloodshed throughout history than anything else, but still strongly support everybody's freedom to believe in whatever they choose to.
