IRS denies tax exemption to religious group because prayer boosts Republicans

[Laxdad24]

Churches do not make a profit, therefore cannot be taxed.

People who work for the church, Osteen, as per your example, pays income tax. Phi Kappa Phi, the national honors society, isn't taxed either yet they collect dues much like a church collects tithes.

Maybe they should be Not for Profit …like most major teaching Hospitals ( John Hopkins for example).

Osteen is the pastor of Lakewood church. That place makes Millions. No way they “give it all away”. So change your status to Not for profit and be honest with the world.


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[NCRAVEN]

Maybe they should be Not for Profit …like most major teaching Hospitals ( John Hopkins for example).

Osteen is the pastor of Lakewood church. That place makes Millions. No way they “give it all away”. So change your status to Not for profit and be honest with the world.


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Olsteen is a joke. But you can’t use one guy and think that all churches are the same. I can tell you from personally seeing the books of a church I’ve gone to they’re hanging on by a thread. That is the overwhelming majority of churches, not Joel Olsteen.

[Laxdad24]

Churches do not make a profit, therefore cannot be taxed.

People who work for the church, Osteen, as per your example, pays income tax. Phi Kappa Phi, the national honors society, isn't taxed either yet they collect dues much like a church collects tithes.

Does Phi Kappa Phi actually employ people or do they use members as “volunteer “? Most churches employ someone. Mega Churches employ lots of people. If you’re paying a salary to someone and taxing them …why shouldn’t they be taxed also?


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[Laxdad24]

Olsteen is a joke. But you can’t use one guy and think that all churches are the same. I can tell you from personally seeing the books of a church I’ve gone to they’re hanging on by a thread. That is the overwhelming majority of churches, not Joel Olsteen.

Ok. The mere fact that there are Mega Churches is enough. The Catholic Church in general makes millions every year. And their members/followers are waay more loyal ( as far as paying their money) than the average Christian church. And like I said to Darb …if they have employees that pay income tax …why shouldn’t the church be taxed also?


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[blah3]

Charitable donations are a tax write off

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So?

[Ortizer]

Well he represents the Lakewood church. He’s the pastor. Monies from the church pay for his big ass mansion.


I mean c’mon. Even catholic school is ridiculous . It’s like $32K a year to attend Boys Latin. They don’t pay their teachers that well that all that tuition is used for that. Let’s say each class has 80 students …that’s over $10 million a year! Yeah. Non profit.


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But when he's selling tickets for $20 a person or whatever, is it to get in for a church service, or is that something he's doing outside his capacity as a pastor?

Additionally, non-profit doesn't mean volunteer workers, just that the business has no profits to return to owners. The ceo of mitre, or the red cross certainly aren't working for free.

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[Ortizer]

So?

So the money you are donating wasn't taxed first, assuming you write it off on your taxes.

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[NCRAVEN]

Ok. The mere fact that there are Mega Churches is enough. The Catholic Church in general makes millions every year. And their members/followers are waay more loyal ( as far as paying their money) than the average Christian church. And like I said to Darb …if they have employees that pay income tax …why shouldn’t the church be taxed also?


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Cause they’re a non profit.

[blueridgemtnman]

Cause they’re a non profit.

Just as Goodwill is and a multitude of others. Some people might be surprised to know how many non-profits there are. It's not even remotely limited to churches. Heck, even BLM is one. They're everywhere.

[darb72]

Maybe they should be Not for Profit …like most major teaching Hospitals ( John Hopkins for example).

Osteen is the pastor of Lakewood church. That place makes Millions. No way they “give it all away”. So change your status to Not for profit and be honest with the world.


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They are non-profit. That is the exact definition of "do not make a profit". They're automatically recognized as a 501(c) by the IRS due to the first amendment so they don't have to apply, although some do.

This is very simple stuff to look up.

[jonboy79]

Yeah non-profit is just a style of accounting.
A “normal” business can only show losses 3 years in a row, a church or other “charitable organization” simply must pay out all of their “profits” to employees and have nothing at the end of the year. So instead of being an “owner” one must be an employee to receive the “profits”.

So, not exact numbers obviously, but Osteen can just pay himself a million a week in salary and bonus himself at the end of the year whatever remains on the balance sheet and stay non-profit. Generally speaking churches use “remaining profits” for capitol projects at the end of the year instead of bonuses, but that is not always the case. It is a system ripe to be abused and does so constantly(not always, for anyone about to chime in that this isn’t the way their church works). I understand that “many” or “most” churches likely aren’t abusing the status “too badly”.

At the end of the day, when it is paid out in salary or bonuses it is then simply taxed as personal income, so the fraud that “hurts most” of us the more straightforward kind where the pastor keeps a portion of cash tithes for himself/herself. But this isn’t that different than many for profit businesses that do “similar” types of cash skimming tax evasion, for profit businesses simply don’t do it in the name of Jesus….


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[darb72]

Yeah non-profit is just a style of accounting.
A “normal” business can only show losses 3 years in a row, a church or other “charitable organization” simply must pay out all of their “profits” to employees and have nothing at the end of the year. So instead of being an “owner” one must be an employee to receive the “profits”.

So, not exact numbers obviously, but Osteen can just pay himself a million a week in salary and bonus himself at the end of the year whatever remains on the balance sheet and stay non-profit. Generally speaking churches use “remaining profits” for capitol projects at the end of the year instead of bonuses, but that is not always the case. It is a system ripe to be abused and does so constantly(not always, for anyone about to chime in that this isn’t the way their church works). I understand that “many” or “most” churches likely aren’t abusing the status “too badly”.

At the end of the day, when it is paid out in salary or bonuses it is then simply taxed as personal income, so the fraud that “hurts most” of us the more straightforward kind where the pastor keeps a portion of cash tithes for himself/herself. But this isn’t that different than many for profit businesses that do “similar” types of cash skimming tax evasion, for profit businesses simply don’t do it in the name of Jesus….


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Outside of Osteen and a few mega-churches, I can't think of a single church where the preacher is in control of the money. In Baptist churches, there's a group consisting of deacons, elders, and other leaders who make all financial decisions. As for it being a racket...
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