Posted by:
elderolddog
(
)
Date: April 18, 2024 02:51PM
Salt Lake Tribune story on 11/02/2022:
"You may have been reading about new questions surrounding the finances and charitable giving of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — specifically up north, in Canada, and Down Under, in Australia.
"This story provides a summary of those findings along with reports about the latest membership numbers from those nations:
BYU’s Canadian pipeline
"The Utah-based church has funneled more than $1 billion in the past 15 years from Canada to its three Brigham Young University campuses in the U.S.
"Most of that tax-free money, according to an investigation by 'The Fifth Estate,' came from the tithing of the 200,000 or so members who live in Canada.
"In 2010 alone, the church sent almost $103 million across the border to BYU, the news show reported this week, and more than $93 million last year.
"No one doubts the church’s right to shuffle this money — under Canadian law — but some question if it’s the right thing to do because it deprives the Canadian treasury of taxes.
“'The church is taking away [the Canadian] government’s ability to fund health care, the ability to fund education, the ability to provide other essential services,' accountant Nigel Kennett, a Latter-day Saint, told The Fifth Estate, the CBC’s equivalent of 60 Minutes. 'It’s done little to benefit the people here, and it has done everything ... to fill the coffers in Salt Lake.'
"The program quoted tax experts who said the money steered to the three BYU campuses — which include small percentages of Canadian students — cost other Canadian taxpayers 16 to 28 cents for every dollar donated. The total hit to the country’s tax wallet could reach $280 million.
"A church spokesperson said, 'the tax provision administered by the Canada Revenue Agency is both legitimate and well-known.'
"On the up and up Down Under?
"This news from up north comes in the wake of similar tax concerns from Down Under, where news outlets raised questions about whether the church has been dodging taxes in Australia by forming a “charitable trust fund” and directing members to send their tithing there.
"Australia does not allow tax deductions for church donations, but it does permit generous write-offs for charitable giving.
"The Sydney Morning Herald reported this week that the church overstated its charitable contributions by more than $1 billion between 2008 and 2020.
"The church has asserted that its global giving — through its humanitarian arm, Latter-day Saint Charities — grew by $1.35 billion during that time frame. But an analysis by a partnership of news organizations put that total at $177 million.
“'The Mormon church will have you believe that it’s a religion that dabbles in business,' Ryan McKnight, a former Latter-day Saint and co-founder of the now-closed MormonLeaks website, told The Sydney Morning Herald. 'But the evidence clearly shows that they are a business dabbling in religion.'
A church spokesperson responded, saying that the faith of 16.8 million members 'uses its resources to carry out its divinely appointed mission.'
"Religion News Service columnist Jana Riess said, 'this kind of financial practice looks terrible for the church. It feels covert and deceptive. ... It’s unfair to the Australian government, which has been shortchanged millions in taxes. And it’s unfair to those tithe-paying Latter-day Saints Down Under who had a right to assume their tithing was going where it was supposed to.'”
https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2022/11/02/whats-up-with-lds-finances/ (I think it's pay-walled...)