(April 18, 2015 at 11:45 pm)Hatshepsut Wrote:(April 18, 2015 at 9:11 am)DeistPaladin Wrote: The government should not recognize ANY religions, period.
Granting religious tax exemption...requires the government to establish what is or isn't a religion. The government has no business doing that.
Only thing is, the power to tax is the power to destroy, and would allow government to target religions it didn't like. Though I hate to see organizations like Scientology and the Mormon Church be able to sock billions away with no public accounting whatsoever. Both organizations keep their books completely secret and furnish even the IRS with only minimal information because they don't have to file forms 990 as secular charities do. While the businesses they own or invest in aren't tax-exempt, the capital gains on their shares is. There really ought to be limits to what a religious body can shield from taxation. The costs of building and running meetinghouses, yes, but earnings on huge endowment funds, no.
If unduly targeting a specific religion is a concern, then find a way to blind the tax examiners from know what religious organization that form is for.
Quote:Religions should also have to publish their books detailing stuff they are claiming exemptions for.
Yes. If they want tax exempt status, they should have to submit to financial examination to demonstrate that they aren't defrauding those who donate, and that the money is going to where they say it is.
Teenaged X-Files obsession + Bermuda Triangle episode + Self-led school research project = Atheist.
