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So somebody at ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
antitheism just pointed to this story about GOP Sen. Grassley going after televangelists for possible fiscal impropriety... I expected to read this article and have a "Yeah! GOPs going after televangelists! Huzzah!" but honestly, so many things in the story just made my blood roil... not just that these "ministries" (ok, that word itself = 10 to 15 systolic points) are exempt from federal income tax (just like secular nonprofits are, but some "ministries" are not "not for profit" by ANY stretch of the imagination; hence this investigation); rather it's that they don't even have to report in on significant aspects of their finances—like, at all—because they're "churches". In other words, religious nonprofits are more equal than secular ones.
Seriously: not good for my blood pressure. Really, really, really not.
Can anyone tell me what efforts there are at present to get ALL institutions of religion out of their friggin' tax-exempt status? I mean, the stuff I give/do for charitable concerns is write-offable, and it would be the same for a church: Feed the naked and clothe the hungry? Great, pay less taxes. But don't tell me because you have a friggin' mail-order ordination you automatically don't have to show Uncle Sam your friggin' books. It's insane and insulting and criminal and patently anti-American and Thom. Jefferson and I say FUCK THAT SHIT.
antitheism just pointed to this story about GOP Sen. Grassley going after televangelists for possible fiscal impropriety... I expected to read this article and have a "Yeah! GOPs going after televangelists! Huzzah!" but honestly, so many things in the story just made my blood roil... not just that these "ministries" (ok, that word itself = 10 to 15 systolic points) are exempt from federal income tax (just like secular nonprofits are, but some "ministries" are not "not for profit" by ANY stretch of the imagination; hence this investigation); rather it's that they don't even have to report in on significant aspects of their finances—like, at all—because they're "churches". In other words, religious nonprofits are more equal than secular ones.Seriously: not good for my blood pressure. Really, really, really not.
Can anyone tell me what efforts there are at present to get ALL institutions of religion out of their friggin' tax-exempt status? I mean, the stuff I give/do for charitable concerns is write-offable, and it would be the same for a church: Feed the naked and clothe the hungry? Great, pay less taxes. But don't tell me because you have a friggin' mail-order ordination you automatically don't have to show Uncle Sam your friggin' books. It's insane and insulting and criminal and patently anti-American and Thom. Jefferson and I say FUCK THAT SHIT.
