I paid a little tithing this year (why is a whole other story)

but I just got my letter from the church for tax purposes on it. It says at the bottom:

"the church provided no goods or services in consideration, in whole or in part, for the contributions detailed below; but only intangible religious benefits"

So in the Ensign they claim that God will pour out blessings on you for paying your tithing (often times including monetary rewards), yet in a legal letter used for tax purposes they say the opposite.

This strikes me as a catch 22, show this to a TBM and they might say well the church has to say that so that you can write it off. In one case the church is lying to its members in the publications, in the other it is lying to the gov so that members can get the benefits of tax write offs. Either case the church is lying!

The church is always lying about something.

Actually, the tax part is true - it provided no goods or services. The intangible benefits are spurious. Just hold your nose and take the deduction and hope that someday all such deductions will no longer exist as part of a full tax reform package.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/13/2013 05:06PM by rhgc.

The same people who mindlessly bitch about socialism want their little cult/church subsidized by the US government through tax-exempt status and tax write of tithing and donations.

The Mormon church is a charity case, not charitable.

Maybe we could just make the money actually spent on charity tax-free. Only the buildings used 90%+ for real charity work would be property tax free. Many non-profits (some churches included) really do help people, and will help more without high taxes.

Since the morg rarely helps people, little of their money would be tax free.

So then "blessings" are not tangible ?

This was a reaction to charities who give you a "gift" back for a donation, like giving $100 to PBS and then they give you a tote bag or Wayne Dwyer DVD. when you get your receipt it deducts $10 or so for the trinket, and you only get to take a tax deduction on the $90 net.

That statement was put on there by church lawyers. They don't want anyone claiming that they have tangible claims against the church.

I have made charitable contributions for fund raisers involving theater tickets, and the receipt included the value of the tickets, reducing the tax-deductible value of the donation.

The statement on the LDS receipt basically says you are entitled to deduct the entire contribution to their little self-serving charity as a charitable donation.