The American Atheist have filed a suit, or whatever it's called, in regards to religions tax exempt status here in America. They are calling B.S. on religions getting a special tax exemption compared to the normal non-profit tax exemption of 503(c). If you google it you should be able to see more information.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/21/2013 05:21AM by secular.

Aren't religious organisations incorporated (or able to incorporate) under the standard 501(c)(3)? I think MINE is ...

Yes.The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), the faith-based organisation to which I belong, is incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organisation. That would be the appropriate non-profit category for a faith-based organisation in the USA.

According to IRS Publication 557, 501(c)(3) is the appropriate category for "Religious, Educational, Charitable, Scientific, Literary, Testing for Public Safety, to Foster National or International Amateur Sports Competition, or Prevention of Cruelty to Children or Animals Organizations".

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p557.pdf

Ah I get it now. The protest is over HOW, not IF, a religious group should apply to be a 501(3)(c). Claims the application process costs more for secular groups. Not sure how accurate that is though (speaking as someone who was looking into establishing a *non-religious* non-profit myself)

The problem, as I see it, is not tax exemption for the church. It is the lack of disclosure. There is NO financial transparency in the church. My unanswerable question is: How can anyone give 10% of their income to a black box organization that turns around and builds malls and buys Florida ranches the size of Rhode Island? "Let's go shopping" (with whatever money we can coerce you into giving us!)

How much disclosure is required of a 501(c)(3)?

"The lawsuit also covers discrepancies in how secular and religious organizations are treated in maintaining their tax-exempt statuses. Secular nonprofits complete Form 990 annually, which details information about finances, donors, volunteers, and personnel; the IRS estimates it requires 211 hours to complete the Form 990, which is then public information. Religious nonprofits are exempted from filing the Form 990, so there is no public record about their finances, donors, volunteers, or personnel." From the AA website regarding the lawsuit.

But there ARE public records of SOME religious orgs' finances and such. You mean to say that it's entirely optional?

It is optional for religions. Not for secular organizations.

I see. Good to know that at least some faith groups (like my own) maintain financial transparency even if it is optional. But it would be nice (and honest) for all to do so.

They're going to lose.

Religion is the government's best friend. What better way to control the sheeple?

There are plenty of sheeple on the non-religious side of the spectrum that can be controlled in other ways

Aye.

That said, I don't think it will be accomplished this time around. The country is still to religious. But that, along with online privacy, will be the next big issues in the upcoming years. Gay rights has already won and is winding down, so we need to pick a new controversial issue for the next decade.

I want required reporting and stripping away the tax exempt status for the LDS church. If members are ready to stand behind TSCC then tax exempt donations won't matter.

Let's see how middle income and wealthy LDS members change their donation habits when their is no tax benefit. Talk about separating the wheat from the tares.

For those of you looking to keep your tax benefits for your generosity look into Wounded Warrior Project. They disclose their finances AND you help someone who's a true hero.

www.woundedwarriorproject.org

I'm an American, and I love living here. However, I am aware that my country is ruled by humans, not heroes. Mistakes are made. Giving the business of religion a tax-free ride is a mistake. It needs to be corrected.

"Religions" are not tax-exempt. Religious organizations are. And the suggestion above that the government uses churches to control the people is absurd. That is why we have separation of church and state -- it prevents churches from controlling government and government from controlling churches. If the government controlled the churches, the black civil rights movement would never have happened.

This suit is absurd and will fail. Atheists are only harming their own public image by bringing pointless suits like this one. They should know better. There is no chance they will succeed, and since that is the case, they need to think about what the results will be: a strengthened perception that they are deliberately harassing people who practice a religion out of pure spite. Whether that is true or not isn't the point -- that is the impression it will give the public. If atheists want to do silly sh*t like this that can only alienate people, they need to also stop whining about being unpopular. You can't have it both ways. You can't needle people and then complain when they dislike you for it.

secular Wrote:
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> B.S. on religions getting a special tax exemption
> compared to the normal non-profit tax exemption of
> 503(c).

This is the thing. This is not an attempt to remove tax exempt status from religious organizations, only an attempt to make them as accountable for justifying (and retaining) that status as non-religious non-profits.