Should the Churches pay taxes?
920515
Yes, for it is written, Give to Cesar what is his.  It's in the Bible, people, when someone asked Jesus if they should pay taxes.  Now, The Church of SubGenius is the only church in the US to proudly pay their taxes.
137117
Within reason they should be able to follow the "laws" of their religion. less so, things which may just be custom. Certainly, a limit needs to be placed on anything which would place an undue tax burden on the taxpayer or create an unsafe situation. In the cases , where money is the issue, a religious charity organization could be appealed to.
241770
No as it is a personal choice to take time off from work to go to church. You would only get paid if you are going on your lunch and normally get paid lunch. You could check into using personal time if that is offered where you work and you could get paid from that then.
1081094
b/c some churchs(and their ministers) are selfish and hoard their money.
747789
IF it is a business transaction, then feel free to charge them to cover your costs, at least. Some businesses give discounts to churches and other non-profits.\nIf it was your home church, I would suggest maybe just billing for the materials. If you don't feel right about that, then do it for free, but get them to write you a donation receipt for the cost of the materials so you can include that as a donation on your tax return, just like any monetary contribution.
199776
No.  But you may think about registering as a church to avoid the taxes.
1022122
i dont think there should be any taxes
155077
Anna, I'm sorry that makes too much sense.  Besides you wouldn't won't those crazy catholics, christians, & Jews to get all that tax money (which is ours to begin with) to spend as they see fit.  Don't you understand that big gov't & liberals can spend your money better than you can.  In addition, that would mean a lot of low income peolpe would actulally have to try and better themselves by working with churches & charities, instead of waiting on that monthly gov't check.
1110408
Do what scientology (lower case s not captial S) did and pay off some tax officials. Then the Fed's recognize you as a religion and you pay no taxes.\n\nReal Answer --A religion is what you believe. It becomes religion when you believe it. You can have a following of people believing the same thing and then have organized religion.
439143
If we "shut down welfare" then we should demand that politicians lower our taxes by a like amount. Then, you would have no reason for not giving to churches, and the churches relying on volunteer help will do a better job of helping the truly needy then the governmental bureaucracy ever could.\n\nHowever, I see both the working poor and the non-working poor in WalMart all the time. I'd say both groups could do with a little less feeding as they are really a bunch of wide-loads.
275379
No its not but it says in the bible we should.  Its better to give if you want to not if you are made to no regrets that way God doesnt want it if you are going to regret giving it later.  Yes we can give tithes in other ways cleaning church doing repairs etc. God Bless!!
915840
Excellent question...there should NOT be exemptions for these institutions...I agree, they should pay tax on real estate, that is for sure...and only bonefide charities should be tax exempt. Most churches seem intent on improving the minister's life style, not charity work. Perhaps it is time to eliminate all of the exemptions.
540458
If you are a Christian, you are obliged to give 1/10th of your total earnings (probably every month) to God. You could give this to your church or to any other ministry of your choice. Alms are given to the poor, not out of compulsion but out of sympathy and a love for the under-priviliged.
346575
Generally, church taxes have always been referred to as "tithes", equal to 10% of a person's wages.  \n\nThere also were items that could be purchased called "indulgences" whereby a person could basically buy the right to sin, to cancel out that sin.  They were really able to indulge in that wrongful behavior.  This was particularly tied to the Medieval Catholics, and thought by most to be a creative method of raising funds.
1033410
If the Church has an income from books, tapes and so forth yes.\n\nBut if the Church is being supported by those that attend through offerings then I would have to say NO.
356472
i don't think so, the law shouldn't be affected by the church. and if you're Muslim and want to vote, wouldn't you feel unconfortable in a church?  I think that only Christians would vote if the elections were held in churches, and that isn''t democracy.
569176
You should instigate a torrid affair and then threaten to go public. Churches will pay huge amounts of money to avoid these sort of scandals.