Quote Originally Posted by Don Corleone View Post
Taxing a church is by definition double-taxation, correct?

Churches in the U.S. are completely funded by donation. If I go to work, earn some money, get half of it taxed, then give some of the half I was allowed to keep to a church, and the church gets taxed on that, how is that NOT double taxation?

If we're going to tax churches, I say we should do away with the concept of tax-exempt organizations all-together. Why should St. Francis's pay taxes on the donations it receives but a marxist one not?
A church is basically a business. Certain businesses conducting certain kinds of work (say, non profit, humanitarian causes, social care and services, charities, etc.) qualify for tax-exempt status.

What there is going on, increasingly, are big mega churches, or businesses posing as para-religious organizations, such as "Family Research Institutes" and other think tanks or research focus groups or lobbying organizations, which use being related to churches or being an outgrowth of churches, to basically meddle in government and act as lobbyists and not pay tax.

Personally, I don't think thinly veiled hate groups (almost anything with "Family" in the title with religious political agendas) should be operating within our political system and lobbying for legislation while enjoying tax-exempt status.

I have no problem with your local congregation church not paying tax. I do have a problem if all of you put your money into the church as political donations to ban lipstick or sex in movies and get a special tax status.