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Balance the Scale with Church Tax Reform

Started by m.condon, February 08, 2012, 06:58:24 PM

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m.condon

In the US churches are granted 501c3 tax-exempt status. Unlike other tax exemptions granted to other non-profit organizations, such as the ACLU, there is no enforced system of checks and balances to ensure they are not abusing this priviledge. There should be no organization that is above questioning or regulation and yet the churches seem to think they are owed this special treatment.
http://www.usanap.org/news/balance-the-scales-with-church-tax-reform.html/
This is an article I recently wrote which highlights not only how and why they were granted this status but also highlights the many ways that this unregulated system is abused. It is definitly worth checking out. I think it is high time we demand transparency from the Churches and enforce the laws that are already in place. The tax exempt status of the churches needs to be investigates and reformed
Usanap.org
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Whitney

actually, churches have to file in order to receive 501c3 status; it is not granted automatically and if they do file they must meet the same standards as any other 501c3.

The real problem is that they do not have to pursue 501c3 status in order to get tax exemption because religious organizations are automatically granted tax free status simply by claiming to be a church when tax time comes around.  They also don't have to meet the rigorous standards of 501c3 if they choose not to go that route.

The above is also stated in the page you linked to in your article http://hushmoney.org/501c3-facts.htm

I think you should re-write the article to focus on how it is wrong that a group can just claim to be a church and get away being tax free.

Whitney

Are you planning on responding? 

Anyway, I figured out that you were talking about the tax law 501c3 and not churches being officially recognized as a 501c3 organization (which they can do in addition to the default church status). 

m.condon

the purpose of the article was to highlight how the system has no checks and balances to ensure that the 501c3 status held by churches is not abused. I wanted to show the need for transparency and possible ways the system has and could possibly be abused
Usanap.org
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