I have been reading up on church spending and their business enterprises and was wondering if people could clarify a few things for me. I’m under the impression that the LDS proper is tax exempt as it is a non profit organisation. Therefore all the money Mormons pay to the church is not taxed. However I’m also aware that the church has a number of commercial offshoots which I assume must not be exempt from paying taxes? For example I was reading about the multi-billion dollar “Jesus Mall” in SLC. Surely this whole operation is run by a commercial offshoot of the Mormon church and has to pay taxes on its revenue etc?

I hear that none of the tithing money is spent on projects for commercial gain. I must then wonder, where does all the tithing money go? I did some math…I’m from new Zealand (population 4.3 million people). The LDS church claims over 14 million members. Lets say taxes on average in my country are around 25% to 30%, then the LDS church would be getting more money than my entire government in taxes each and every year. In new Zealand we have universal healthcare (i.e. I got an ACL reconstruction after a snowboarding accident completed FREE of charge this year), free education, all the infrastructure that must be maintained etc. I just can’t fathom what the church is doing with a similar amount of money?! If that much money can sustain the entire population of over 4 million (and a reasonably socialist government at that, i.e. lots of government spending), surely there should be more noticeable “fruits” coming from the Mormon church?

Also, can someone fill me in on the financial structure of the church? And what is the general line from church authorities regarding its lack of transparency regarding its use of church money? I just can’t think of a good excuse as to why they don’t disclose this information to its members (nor acan I understand why members don’t demand this of their leaders?!)

Firstly, your estimates are a little over because only about 25% of those 14 million are active, and only about 25% of them pay a full tithe. There are probably around 1 million or so tithepayers, probably earning $30,000 on average, so that would be around $3Bn a year globally in tithes.

They probably spend a small fraction of that each year, maybe 20%, and "invest" the rest.

I believe TSCC has at least $200Bn in assets, and are probably saving up until they can afford to buy the US back from China and Mexico, at which point they will literally own their "Kingdom of God" - i.e. the North American continent. Whether or not the GAs believe in the theological reasons for doing this is irrelevent - the power will be very real.

I assure you that we former members of the Mormon church would LOVE to be informed about where the tithes and donations to the church actually go!

You said that you wonder why leaders hide where they spend the money. Answer: Because members do not demand to know this before forking over 10% of their income plus various donations to the church.

Your next question: Why *don’t* members demanded to know this?
Answer: Because they are brainwashed members of a cult.

The “How Cults Work” website lists these among its “key points”:

“If you are instructed by a group not to read information critical to the group, then that is a sign of a cult.”
“Legitimate groups have nothing to fear from their members reading critical information about them.”
“Cult members are usually very fearful of disobeying or disagreeing in any way with their leadership.”

Hope that helps. To learn more about how cults control their members, Google “cult” or try one of these links:

http://www.howcultswork.com/

http://www.christiancounselling.on.ca/articles_spiritual_abuse_rules_&_characteristics.htm

http://www.codoh.com/zionweb/ziextremists.html

Ok righto, well that’s still a massive amount of cash. And you really think the average tithe payers salary is only $30,000? Maybe im ignorant (there aren’t a lot of Mormons in NZ), but the girl im dating, and all the Mormons she knows seem to be pretty damn well off from what I can see. Maybe they are the minority? She seems to always tell me that Mormons are often well off because they have the “perfectionist” mentality and tend to do well in life. Maybe she is also naïve as I have read a lot of stories about the poor on this site.

So is that really a hypothesis, that one of the long term goals of the church is to own a significant portion of N. America…? That’s a kinda scary thought. I guess with the likes of Mit Romney running for president may set alarm bells ringing.

As for the whole cult thing, I’m not really convinced in “mainstream” Mormonism’s cult status. Its funny because I was watching a doco about cults last night (it featured the FLDS’s leader Warren Jeffs), and it stated at the start that all of the major religions of the world essentially started up with cult like status’s. The only reason why they are no long referred to as cults is because so many have joined up that they are now the norm, rather than the exception. I’d say Mormonism is approaching that tipping point between being obviously classified as a cult and a mainstream religion. That’s just my opinion however.

I stil can’t get over the fact that the congregation don’t demand financial transparency though…Seems like a breeding ground for corruption to me. I guess all the members truly believe that God wouldn’t let their leaders and prophets lead them astray.

Imagine if a Monson sex scandal or something similar arose!

Uprate the $30,000 by a factor of 2. I was thinking in £GBP and didn't include offerings.

An annual tithe and offering income of $6bn is probably closer to the truth.

Nope.

I know this is not at all obvious to you but I guarantee mormonism is its own special deceptive cult all its own. It is a million miles from any so-called mainstream christian group.

It is psychologically and emotionally damaging to its members and their families.

Make no mistake. If the "mainstream" really knew how destructive mormonism was it could easily be deemed illegal, or at least subject to potential class-action lawsuits from its victims or RICO prosecutions.

There is an article written by TIME Magazine in the late 90's or so about the financial empire of the church. Very informative.
It estimated $5 billion in tithing flow annually in this time period.


http://www.lds-mormon.com/time.shtml

Its funny though because for the girl I’m dating, Mormonism really does seem to work for her. She seems to be way happier when she goes to church (she got kinda grumpy with me when she didn’t go to church for 5 weeks when she first got here for various reasons), and seems to love the church’s influence on her life.

Maybe this is part of the damage it does, she now seems dependant on the church for her happiness. It’s all a big mind f*ck really. So hard to tell what is right or wrong in this all (don’t get me wrong im not considering joining at all).

Also why haven’t people taken class action lawsuits against LDS inc for deception, lying, corporate mis-management, brainwashing etc? Surely in the “sue everyone and everthing” world that is America, someone should have claimed against them by now. Theres probably some serious money to be made…I’m sure im missing something here though…?

The Mormons don't question what happens to their donations because they fully believe that God is directly in charge of their church through their top leaders who have been charged with managing the "Lord's" money. Its part of their doctrine. All the money gets sent directly to church headquarters. It has probably never crossed most Mormon's minds that the church should release financial statements. Their leaders say the money is spent on running the church and to charity and they just assume that's how its spent. Never mind that the majority of it is probably spent on gaudy temples, marketing, BYU, and possibly laundered money for business ventures and luxury expenses for their highest leaders.

Is the church a cult or not a cult? Depends on your definition of cult. Some consider cults small start up religions and when they get big enough they are no longer cults. Others, including myself, consider cults, any group that attempts to brainwash and control through manipulative means a cult. I believe the LDS church fits this definition and even if they are the biggest religion in the world, I'd still consider them a cult. It has nothing to do with the doctrine or level of mainstream acceptance; it has to do with how they operate.