Should religious organizations be taxed?

[helmespc]

No brainer.... they should absolutely have to pay taxes.... its incredible that there is so much money exchanging hands without being taxed.

[Minimalist]

Yeah, so many of the churches do things for the needy in their neighborhoods. So did Al Capone.

And for the same reason. To advance other parts of their agenda.

[Jackalope]

Yeah, so many of the churches do things for the needy in their neighborhoods. So did Al Capone.

And for the same reason. To advance other parts of their agenda.

Good point. At least Capone supplied the booze.

[The Grand Nudger]

Complacency is an invaluable commodity.

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

Honestly - I think it depends on the church.

MY honest opinion is----BOLLOCKS!

Churches should be built, maintained and OWNED 100% by the faithful who actually use them,default ownership being the local community, not some incorporated religious organisation.

IF churches as organisations are going to own property and receive income,they should be taxed just like any other business. Fully, independently-audited charitable activities could be tax exempt.

[The Grand Nudger]

Ah but Pad, a church is a charity, to mankind itself..lol. The pastor is merely taking an administrative fee. The property and cash is a "purpose critical resource to the community and charitable action". How would they pay for the freight on all those bibles they ship out if money didn't change hands?

[Welsh cake]

Well, on the subject of should they be taxed or not, the answer is an obvious "YES" but there would have to be -massive- amendments to the law and how we interpret HMRC policies and guidelines on Tax exemptions within just the UK alone.

Currently, Christian denominations can easily argue they're a 'charity' because they can assert they're providing a benefit to the public, rather than a specific individual. A benefit that can originate from secular alternatives or means, but a benefit they can claim they bring to the community regardless. Also, charities that are members of particular national organisations or movements (such as churches) are also excepted from registration.

As it stands they don't even have to sign up with the Register of charities or the charity commission. They don't have to show their financial profile or submit their annual income figures at all if they're not under a charity regulator.

And even if their particular cult is not recognised by the local government or authority they can still appeal or apply to HMRC for tax relief anyway.

[5thHorseman]

Yes, absolutely no one person or enteprise or anything other than a genuine charity should be tax exempt. Some say Churches do charitable things, guess what, so do Goldman Sachs, on quite a large scale too. I also believe they should be taxed because not taxing them on religious ground is discriminating against non-religious organisations.

[Jackalope]

They don't have to show their financial profile or submit their annual income figures at all if they're not under a charity regulator.

Sounds like UK churches are a perfect cover for a criminal enterprise.

There I go repeating myself again.