Why is it that the Religionistas, those silk-robed, ruby-studded, incense-snorting, Escalade-driving, myth-peddling whores, get to skate on taxes? Look beyond my twisted panties for the steaming details.
We devil-worshiping Sons of Sodom get stuck with a tab to the tune of $71,000,000,000 per year: The estimate of what churches do not pay in taxes.
Churches do not pay property tax. Churches do not pay capital gains. Churches are allowed tax exemptions that we the godless (and, come to think of it, the saps in the pews too) are not. Many states exempt churches from sales tax. Pray thee not to forget the parsonage allowance.
This is not just money that is not going to the feds. There are local tax revenues that churches are stealing from teachers, firefighters, police and pothole-filling funds. Religionistas are privy to these services without paying for them.
Also, many Republican majority legislatures are following the ALEC handy dandy handbook of pre-fab legislation that diverts money from public schools to fund vouchers for the schools of these non-taxpaying clowns.
You and I are paying people to teach Creationism.
Church apologists claim the religious feed and house the poor. Prove it. Let’s see a dollar amount, Our Lady of Perpetual Earnings. How much did Father Egregious take in and how much did he spend on charity? Establishing some type of parameters - a minimum requirement- to what churches must do to maintain their tax exemptions might be nice.
How much of those Faith Based Organizations are propped up by federal funding?
The primary reason for a church, synagogue, mosque, or group of suspicious looking people mumbling Bible verses and squeezing snakes in that converted Ponderosa Steak House, is to preach and teach religion: Propagation of the faith. Why should they get all those tax breaks and not have to show for it? Because God likes them?
And these are the “legitimate” churches. How about the televangelist hucksters preaching Christian prosperity and other high-rolling big-name thumpers?
What happens to the basket after it’s passed? Especially all that cash? Where the hell is the liberal media on this one? They are terrified. Screw the polls reporting increasing numbers of “nones:” people who claim no religious affiliation. Mainstream Media is scared to Bejeezus of alienating worshippers.
Encourage atheism or better yet anti-theism as well as the social responsibility of paying taxes.
Paying taxes is an honor. Government is a good thing.
In the very least, if these dead-body eating, suicidal and incestual God worshipers get a pass, it should not be an unlimited pass. They should have to at least prove – on paper – the charitable contribution they are making. A minimum should be mandated. Somebody needs to figure out if Church tax breaks are cost effective, or if these programs should be the directed and run by the government.
In any case, Jesus. Time to pony up like the rest of us.
Attribution
How much do they not pay? 71-billion: http://www.patheos.com/...
Parsonage allowance:
http://www.irs.gov/...
Soup kitchens get federal funding:
http://www.fns.usda.gov/...
How much Churches spent for lobbying:
http://www.pewforum.org/...
IRS audit churches:
http://www.pewforum.org/...
ALEC:
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Television hucksters and other high-rolling big-name thumpers:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...