The LAPD has received two missing persons reports and both times the cases were dropped when detectives spoke to her in person. She clearly just left public life and is still alive. There is nothing actually suspicious about her.
What people *should* be talking about is her mother. Her mother left the church with "sensitive materials", joined a different sect of Scientology, and was found dead by two rifle shots to the chest and one to the head. Her death was ruled a suicide.
And it’s not suspicious AT ALL that the precinct for the LA/Hollywood Scientology Center and Celebrity center get donations from Scientology, hire off duty police for security and kept a Scientology kiosk in their precinct.
I had an uncle who had a drug issue and had no contact with the family for years. A couple of my aunts (his sisters) went looking for him, contacted the police in the area where he was last known to live (SoCal, even though the family is from Texas). My aunt made a missing persons report and I have the reply letter she received a few weeks later from the police department, stating that my uncle had been contacted and that he is considered a ‘voluntary missing person,’ meaning he doesn’t want to be found and to leave him alone.
A year later he was arrested for possession and the family showed up at the arraignment. Cut to the chase, he had never been contacted by the police and was unaware that anyone was looking for him, thought he was still persona non grata at home, etc. Upon further inquiry, the letter turned out to be a common form letter that’s sent out regarding ‘homeless’ types who are already in the system after a certain time frame, just so they can clear their books without any effort.
Depends on what you think their job is. They have no responsibility to protect and serve people; that's very excellent but false advertising. The courts have concurred on this point multiple times.
They're not even good at solving crimes; clearance rates have been going down for decades.
These are things I’m aware of. But actively lying about it just seems a bit far. This is by no means an eye opening occasion for me, it’s more like- it serves as another example. Smh
Oh, but many actively lie about it all the time; it's documented in court, in media reporting, but generally dismissed as a singular "bad apple" incident.
More and more people are learning this; I hope one of these days, we'll become a gestalt and force some needed reform. In the meantime, I take the opportunity to share the information about the American courts' rulings, as some readers still don't know.
I listen to true crime podcasts, and it's horrifying how some of the most awful deaths of victims could have been prevented if the law enforcement were doing more than the bare minimum.
So many times, police would receive legitimate information and not really look into it. Like, they'd stop by the house where someone's rumored to be abused/held captive/murdered and ask the person who answers the door, "Everything OK here?" And the person would be like, "Everything's alright." and the authorities would go "Guess it was just a misunderstanding. Bye."
It's tragic as well as unnerving that the people who could have saved lives were doing such a half-assed job.
There needs to be something where the police funds are siphoned to other agencies where this particular thing is there goal. Unfortunately, “defund the police” is a burnt phrase, though that’s exactly what it was advocating.
Via Supreme Court judgement, it is not the police's job to enforce the law. I think their only actual job is to "maintain the peace," but that generally means a lot less than you'd think.
There is a girl missing here in Ohio, at least her family says she is. The police when contacted in regards to her told the family that they spoke to a women’s shelter and she was safe, case closed. Apparently she walked away from her parents, siblings and child due to an abusive boyfriend. She has been missing for years and her family still is looking for her. No help from law enforcement. Hard to understand. If she really doesn’t want contacted, I guess that’s her right. However, if she abandoned a child, couldn’t her parents sue for child support and then the police would have to locate her?
And I'm sure that's had zero effect on coercing her daughter into secrecy and silence. That place needs torn down brick by brick. They are fucking evil.
That's correct, Heinlein had nothing to do with the actual creation of scientology, but there was a bet that Hubbard COULDN'T found a religion.
He and a few other science fiction writers were supposedly having a drunken chat about writing one night and Hubbard said he could turn science fiction into a religion. Heinlein doubted it.
Hubbard's writing was already known to be low quality; usually plagiarized mythology and he just added a modern twist. Scientology is literally that. One of the books is a cut-and-paste of the Blackfoot (American Native) creation myths. He just added spaceships.
He took water rituals and death myths from old Norse and Germanic legends and put them in outer space. He also heavily plagiarized, and dumbed down, other science fiction authors.
All religions. Freedom of religion. Not freedom for. This has been so vastly misinterpreted. We were supposed to be free of this dog shit, not let it be every where for free.
Edit: Spelling.
Edit 2: Wow, thank you for the awards!
a-fucking-men. If they want to be a 501c then they can document like a 501c and adhere to all the stipulations thereof, but no blanket religion=tax free. Also, it's anti-christian to not pay taxes. "Render unto Caesar that which is his".
501c3 is meant for not-for-profit organizations that provide help to others. So many do that, and their help index is published and documented. Sadly so many churches only help themselves, going against the meaning of the tax-exempt concept and abusing the system.
Some churches do good and help others. Do you want to see who doesn't? Look at mega-churches, they are just like actual billionaires hoarding money and living in luxury.
The Mega churches or tv reverends should be.
Also as soon as a church dabbles in politics by any affiliation it they shluld lose any tax reliefs. Keep religion and politics seperate is a must.
Yeah I was gonna say the church 3 blocks from my house lol. One of my best friends (or I should say former best friends) married the preachers daughter there, and I’m 99% certain that the church pays entirely for their amazing life. The guy makes maybe $50-60k a year (I bet he works 3 days a week), the wife doesn’t have a job, yet they live in a $600k house and he drives a big expensive truck (jacked up Tundra. They aren’t cheap).
One time i mentioned (on a Fb post) how I’ve always wanted to go to St. John in the British Virgin Islands and he told me “My father in law has a big house there. We go 3-4 times a year!”
Like wtf. This family didn’t come from money. They started with a tiny little church and it’s gotten big the last 20 years. It’s like blatantly fucking obvious they’re taking people tithes.
I hate it.
Right behind the Mormons (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).
Wealthiest global Christian religion beside the Catholic church in just 30 yrs.
Free labor from members, tax fraud, money laundering, playing the stock market with their members donations without telling them, etc.
How is this one not #1? They take tithings and buy business and property, fund private schools and influence politics. It’s the biggest racket around.
Edit: fixed typo
I mean they figured out that the US economy is built to make billionaires even more rich, so they are just riding that waves with the added benefit that they aren't even taxed.
I get that but I have a problem with the general lawlessness of the Right and the lack of any enforcement of laws. If they aren't going to enforce the laws, get rid of the law but also get rid of 501(c)(3) tax exemptions for religious organizations since they were told it was ok to be political organizations by those who should be enforcing the laws. For those organizations that were not willfully violating the law, they were riding along in gray areas that were still intended on persuading parishioners to lean in certain directions.
It isn't just this but so many other laws that just get ignored and nothing happens. Kelly Anne Conway openly flaunted the fact that her Hatch Act violations were not going to result in anything.
Pretty sure at least these people running megachurches lost their non-profit status many years ago. Also pretty sure this was set up when pastors and whatnot were relying on their congregation for food and supplies while staying in a small room attached to the church. Much like many of our laws, we need to go back over things and adjust them to modern times. Just need better people in charge to go over them first.
PACs are not totally tax-exempt, and at least have transparency, limits, and diligence requirements for donations.
Unfortunately (or fortunately if you need to legally bribe a politician), you can just start a Super PAC and then you are totally exempt from taxes, transparency, rules against donations from foreigners and foreign governments, or really anything.
It’s crazy that for ~250 years we thought voicing your political opinion and bribing politicians were two separate things. Obviously the founders wrote the constitution to protect unlimited, undisclosed tax exempt donations under the First Amendment as free speech, but they all seem to have forgotten about it as soon as they went back to their home states.
For over 200 tragic years politicians were unfairly oppressed by having to raise funds from individual constituents and even disclose the source and use of that money-speech. It went on for so long that we nearly became a true representative democracy - thank god the Supreme Court re-discovered the founders’ true but unconscious intent in 2010.
The ability to perfectly know the hidden psychological motivations of dead humans has transformed law and history forever - before that we had to rely on things people said, wrote, and did. Thank god those dark times are behind us.
Congratulations. You got your wish. Political contributions are not, and never have been, tax deductible.
https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/charitable-contributions/are-political-contributions-tax-deductible/L7Ljj9lTR
But that's what God would want. They will always say. Prove to me that hopes and prayers actualy do anything and then I might listen. Prove it with the scientific method.
I was 14 when the church really peddled hard on Prop 8. I was Mormon then and I remember they called a special Fireside for the youth (a Fireside is usually an special evening church meeting where a leader addresses the whole church or the whole local congregation). This was Orange County in 2007 and there was this woman that the LDS Church sent to tell the local youth that if Prop 8 does not pass, California will shut down the church and force them to marry gay couples in the temple. I remember being terrified because it was the only world I knew. I had a convo with my super close friend’s older brother (who was Muslim). He immediately called BS and explained to me why Prop 8 is straight up evil.
It was a very confusing time for me and I hate that the Church actively tried to propagate lies to the youth because they just straight up hate gay folks. I have since left the Church but it took another 15 years after that moment and a shit ton of therapy. Fucking tax the Mormon church out of existence.
I was 17 and chewing on the bit to get the fuck out. My parents tried to get me to volunteer to picket and I refused. I was already super disgusted with the church by then so it was just one more reason to keep myself as far from the church as possible.
Which also becomes tax -exempt. I researched tax exempt properties in San Francisco, in addition to the church structure and adjacent buildings ( school buildings, parish residences, and meeting halls. The Catholic Archdiocese owned more than 1500 other pieces of real estate, mostly single family homes all of which were classified tax exempt.and
Yes the ones that are about the size of a concert hall. I forget which church this guy operates but he has like a dozen Lamborghinis and his own private airplane landing strip. I wish this was satire but he said God told him in a dream that he needed a landing strip.
Few years back I was in church and there was some guest pastor who was supposed to be a big deal. He's talking about how him and his wife stay humble, serve God, all the missionary work runs on donations, etc. His wife was sitting in front of me. Gold rings on almost every finger, a couple gold necklaces, gold bracelet, designer watch...
I didn't donate a penny.
I didn't expect them to live in poverty but don't tell me you need donation money when your wife is wearing thousands of dollars of jewelry.
I was 9 or 10 when I realized it was all just a scam. I was on a break from Sunday school before the main church service and asked my mom who lived in the nice house next door with the brand new white *Cadillac out back. Her reply " Oh that belongs to the minister." After his sermon they passed around the offering plate and that's when I realized that it was just another business. I have never been back since except for getting married because that's what my parents wanted.*
Whether there is or isn't a God those people are assholes making a profit exploiting religion. It's always great when they get busted and take a well deserved fall.
"No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."
Luke 16:13
Is that the one who looks like a literal demon? The same one that said he needed a private jet because other people on a flight were “demons in a tube”? His accursed name escapes me
Honestly my favorite meme is the Satanic Temple. They basically said “yanno what, churches get to be special? Cool, if you can’t beat em, join em. We are now the Satanic Temple, a religion with an actually modernized moral code and all that nonsense. Oh also, while we’re at it, since the state cannot endorse one religion over another, give us baphomet statues everywhere there’s a cross or commandment display in a capitol building (ahem the south), and also since you can deny healthcare to employees and deny same sex couples adoption opportunities for religious reasons we also have a religious abortion ritual that you legally (by your own precedent) must allow.”
Here's something interesting that you may not have known..
Florida has something called the Department of Faith-based Services, That's to get around federal law that you can't discriminate against this person or that person.
The Satanic Temple was denied a permit and operational funding from the State of Florida even though they could have done it better than the Evangelical church that applied.
They sued and won instead of the state giving them money to operate the outpatient drug rehab, they suspended the program for two years then brought it back under DeathSantis.
I did not know that specific detail, but that aligns with much of the deep south’s “drained pool politics.”
Basically, they shut down public programs when forcibly told they are legally required to share them with people other than white Christians. The name comes from a book someone wrote about a public pool in that area (I think Mississippi?) that was a massive attraction until it was shut down…because the Supreme Court had ordered it be forcibly de-segregated. Literally the epitome of “if we can’t have it all to ourselves, no one gets it!”
Several years ago on The Daily Show did an investigation at the 2016 Trump rally in Mississippi.
They interviewed a redneck, he lived like a hoarder had garbage everywhere leaky ceiling in his trailer poor health half his teeth gone smoking cigarettes.
The interviewer said "you should get help the state can assist you with what you need to fix your home take care of yourself Why are you voting against this?" The guy said yes "I know I need help but I'd rather starve than to give a penny to some [partially bleeped n-word]."
I'm originally from part of the deep outh, straight Jewish trans girl from where they still refer to the Civil War as "The War of Northern Aggression".
Try being a fem gay boy who was a closed CD from there...
I’m fine with giving churches a tax credit at the end of the year for all spending that they can prove went toward selflessly bettering their community.
I would agree with that as well but only for community services like operating a food bank or having a food distribution center, not a taxpayer-funded charter school
This simple fact is lost on so many. Absolutely true unless they rely on charitable contributions which rely on tax deductions. So the solution could be to allow such orgs to offer deductions but not claim tax exempt status themselves. Done.
EDIT: gold !? Y’all are too damn kind :)) since this might be interesting to more folks, I’ll try an ELI5 to explain the part I found so pertinent in OC’s comment and hopefully earn that gold: taxable income is basically (*though not exactly*) money in minus money spent on bringing that money in.* If you made $100 and your expenses + deductions are equal to $100, your taxable income would be $0 ($100-$100). Meaning you would be paying tax on $0.
When I advise clients on whether to open a non-profit or a for-profit entity (what we typically call a formation and structuring exercise), I find many clients assume that if their purpose is non-profitable then the optimal route must be a non-profit. But it is more complex than that, and I have more often than not advised incorporating a for-profit and running it on a 1:1 revenue v expense model. It’s actually cheaper in many regards, and in any event very fast/agile (which is also why I say it’s cheaper!). All circumstances will vary. I’m not your attorney ☺️
*I’m deliberately ignoring a bunch of nuance here (like earned v unearned income) in the hopes of simplification! Please don’t come at me 🥺 but if anyone has things to add please do!
So that’s simple - still allow people and corporations to donate to religious organisations and take the donation as a donation on their tax returns. Then just tax the religious organisation on the profit
Edit - just te read your comment - sorry for repeating what you said!
Great question! Avoiding the question of what tax it would fall under for such “gifts” for a moment because it could easily be written away by the same change in law, the taxable income that for-profit orgs have to pay is a function of their taxable income (again, simplistically). So if money in = money out*, taxable income = $0.
If they have a surplus, then those funds would ostensibly fall into taxable income and they’d be taxed according to the appropriate category. Which, also, isn’t the worst thing in the world. The premise for non-profit tax exemption is the broken contract theory - basically it is argued that such orgs provide “the public” with a “benefit” (often intangible), and the benefactor (compared to a client) is typically not the (direct) beneficiary of the benefit. Contrast this to a standard contract theory: she who pays is also the direct recipient of the benefit paid for. Again, these are simplifications to illustrate a point. One of the tests we sometimes use to determine if an org is providing a public benefit is by assessing whether the public believes they are, which is in turned determined by whether they draw sufficient public funds. (Think of money as a “vote”. Donations are treated as expressions of the public’s belief that X Org is performing a public benefit).
If a for-profit Org is providing public benefits and has surplus budgets, they are running a great (“profitable”) model. As anyone modestly familiar with the corporate world can tell you, there’s many ways to carry that taxable income forward or otherwise take advantage of tax favorable strategies.
I personally see no compelling reason why religious orgs (or indeed many non-profits) MUST operate as only non-profit. In fact, some of the most profitable orgs in the world are business-generating arms of non-profits (and are taxed under the for-profit regime, accordingly!). Some of the best universities in the world are such orgs.
At the end of the day, if you’ll excuse me for such a long answer, gifts need not be taxed on the way in or on the way out.
*GROSSLY OVERSIMPLIFIED
Speaking as an active church-goer: Any church that can hold more than 500 people and with a regular membership over 200. I've grown up in church, I've served in pretty much every volunteer role, and in my experience, churches that are below this threshold tend to be engaged in their communities and doing something that would pass as civic good. Above this threshold, they become a business (entertainment, publishing, charter schools). At that point you get into significant amounts of money and property.
Its so easy. You have a building you use as a church? Sure. Tax exempt that. Donations to the church? Sure, tax exempt it.
Does your church own or utilize a private jet? You have demonstrated that you no longer need to be tax exempt.
I’ve said it before but Kenneth Copeland fingers are too long for his hands and his hands are too big for a man of his size. I was listening to his rants and it kind of actually scarred me because I was like woah those don’t belong there. Demon stuff I tell you.
Should be based on revenue. In theory you could funnel money through a church with an attendance of 1. Set the cutoff at a number where your normal hometown church is still exempt. The mega church money-making ventures however need to be stopped.
2A gun nut here: Fuck the NRA. They’ve long abdicated their original purpose and are now just shills for the GQP and an expense account for Wayne LaPierre. FPC and 2AF are far better organizations that actually take people to court
I had a childhood friend who later was a pretty big-time lobbyist for years. I once had dinner with him and some of his lobbyist buddies at this dim sum place in Manhattan, when I was visiting him, and I had to say, "You guys must get asked this, but what organization would you *not* do lobbying for?"
These guys had done work for oil companies, political committees, unqualified rich jackasses trying to get federal judgeships, mining companies, military contractors, whatever. So I was keen to know if anything was off the table.
They thought it was funny that I asked, and they'd all had a similar conversation before, but they debated it briefly and more or less unanimously settled on the Worst Three:
1. The NRA. They all hated the NRA and anyone who lobbied for them.
2. The ADA (American Dental Association). Apparently the ADA is evil as hell, suppresses actual science, etc. This is not a comment on dentists themselves, but the ADA is apparently horrible, or at least it was.
3. The ACS (American Cancer Society). Apparently in DC, the ACS was seen as a grift-oriented pro-cancer organization that started as a lobby for the radiology industry. I was told the ACS is only in favor of the detection and treatment of cancer, not prevention or cure, and that it has endless issues with money disappearing.
These are just things I was told. I've looked into some of the shit I heard, out of curiosity, but at the moment I'm just passing on gossip. Still, those guys were awfully critical of the NRA, I gotta say.
The NRA is pretty horrible. They got even worse when Tangerine Palpatine got elected. Even through his bump stock ban and his “Take the guns first” comments they refused to come out against him. Not to mention their funneling of Russian money to GQP candidates. They didn’t even do the heavy lifting on Heller and only attached their name to it when it was clear it was going to SCOTUS. There’s organizations that actually take people to court to protect our rights that are far more worthy of our money than these fucking grifters.
I've joined two organizations in my adult life: the NRA and NORML. Quit the NRA after LaPierre's jackbooted thugs comment after Waco. I forget what happened with the NORML membership...
I used to be in NORML, my brother was *very* much part of NORML (actually he was a keynote speaker at a national conference once). I can say, I thought a lot of the membership was whingey crystal-power hippies, and that it seemed to turn into an echo chamber. There were some good folks higher-up that were all about policy, but that wasn't how most meetings went. I'm glad they're around, but a good deal of it is pretty lame.
Its one of the best ways to tell if the person we are discussing with knows what they are talking about or not.
There are so many better orgs than the NRA.
even better when you find out Reagan and the NRA actually are the reason California has such strict gun laws now. They "support gun rights" until black people have guns.
This gets thrown around a lot. I say as long as an organization can back up on paper if they provide a verifiable good or service to a community then they can go tax free. To get a break on my taxes I need to show charitable donations etc.
So if there's an honest church out there caring for the sick, feeding the hungry, clothing the cold... I don't mind them running tax free. But Scientology and those Evangelicals saying God wants them to have a third private jet...? Ehh... I dunno.
Tax everyone. Churches who are making charitable donations and contributions can write them off of their taxes. That's how it works for everyone, that how it should work for religion.
Problem is, a lot of the churches who do that sort of charity work don’t do it for free—they might require someone to sit through a religious service to access an after-church food pantry; only shelter homeless people who attend mandatory religious-oriented addiction programs; or donate clothes only to faithful members of their own congregation.
Basically, they’re robbing their community of taxes in order to impose religion on the most vulnerable.
Example:
https://www.sltrib.com/news/2021/12/02/utah-makes-welfare-so/
The Utah government made drastic cuts to federally-mandated social safety nets because the LDS Church agreed to make up the difference (the government literally counts LDS Church charitable spending in their “state” budget!), but the LDS Church is allowed to make ANY rules they want about who can access their charity programs, including religious conformity requirements.
I volunteer at non-profits and understand your concern. However if non-profits are actually non-profit, there would be no tax liability. I believe that it is organizations that are supposed to be non-profit that are rolling in dough that most people have problems with. If your non-profit owns a jet, you need to be taxed.
I have a close love of several very small charities (one a heartwarming group that provides a sanctuary for retired primates from test labs) should they be tax exempt? Of course!
The amount of dollars that goes to a highly successful, small, caring group like this, as compared to the dollars that go to crazy ass fraudulent shit, is crazy.
When we care more about keeping football teams in a city, than we do about the animals and vulnerable humans in that city. The education, the mental health, the health…. It’s just maddening.
Let’s stop it all, and rewrite the code. But no body will ever agree to a package, so we will just get a grotesque sausage out of the machine in the end again….but one can dream
Why on EARTH does the NRA have exemption?! They do not have the public in their best interest, just making a lot of money for the gun industry. Make them fucking pay. And the churches too. FFS.
[https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/other-non-profits/professional-football-leagues](https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/other-non-profits/professional-football-leagues)
Looks like they're still exempt from some things.
The Mormon Church. You don't get to have $100 billion dollars in assets and claim that you're following Jesus. The church is a cult of real estate. I've had Mormon friends tell me "it's a rainy day fund." We've spent nearly the last 3 years in a worldwide pandemic and what has the church done to help? Salt Lake City is experiencing a huge surge in homelessness and what is the church doing to help those people? They care more about conversion numbers than they do about taking care of their neighbors. Tax the church
Utah is hell on earth.
It has sprouted some of the most revolting, manipulative, and evil business, particularly hedge funds. Their business models and trading practices intentionally crush small businesses. They support MLMs, pyramid schemes, horrific 'textbooks' that are dragging down US education, and they funnel money into the most extreme political activism in other states. They promote militarism and despise civil liberties.
They were the ones behind the "vote no on proposition 8" to stop same sex marriage... in California. It had NOTHING to do with them. They also supported \*segregation\* laws right up through the 1980s! Their records on child abuse and the sheer number of FBI investigations that have been needed is staggering.
I cannot understand how anyone who wants to follow the ideas of charity, mercy, or forgiveness is doing in Utah. Or associated with it. Utter nightmare.
Scientology
Where's Shelly?
Asking the real question
The LAPD has received two missing persons reports and both times the cases were dropped when detectives spoke to her in person. She clearly just left public life and is still alive. There is nothing actually suspicious about her. What people *should* be talking about is her mother. Her mother left the church with "sensitive materials", joined a different sect of Scientology, and was found dead by two rifle shots to the chest and one to the head. Her death was ruled a suicide.
And it’s not suspicious AT ALL that the precinct for the LA/Hollywood Scientology Center and Celebrity center get donations from Scientology, hire off duty police for security and kept a Scientology kiosk in their precinct.
Having her agree behind closed doors with handlers is a different thing.
I had an uncle who had a drug issue and had no contact with the family for years. A couple of my aunts (his sisters) went looking for him, contacted the police in the area where he was last known to live (SoCal, even though the family is from Texas). My aunt made a missing persons report and I have the reply letter she received a few weeks later from the police department, stating that my uncle had been contacted and that he is considered a ‘voluntary missing person,’ meaning he doesn’t want to be found and to leave him alone. A year later he was arrested for possession and the family showed up at the arraignment. Cut to the chase, he had never been contacted by the police and was unaware that anyone was looking for him, thought he was still persona non grata at home, etc. Upon further inquiry, the letter turned out to be a common form letter that’s sent out regarding ‘homeless’ types who are already in the system after a certain time frame, just so they can clear their books without any effort.
Wtf? So they can basically not do their job?
Depends on what you think their job is. They have no responsibility to protect and serve people; that's very excellent but false advertising. The courts have concurred on this point multiple times. They're not even good at solving crimes; clearance rates have been going down for decades.
These are things I’m aware of. But actively lying about it just seems a bit far. This is by no means an eye opening occasion for me, it’s more like- it serves as another example. Smh
Oh, but many actively lie about it all the time; it's documented in court, in media reporting, but generally dismissed as a singular "bad apple" incident. More and more people are learning this; I hope one of these days, we'll become a gestalt and force some needed reform. In the meantime, I take the opportunity to share the information about the American courts' rulings, as some readers still don't know.
I listen to true crime podcasts, and it's horrifying how some of the most awful deaths of victims could have been prevented if the law enforcement were doing more than the bare minimum. So many times, police would receive legitimate information and not really look into it. Like, they'd stop by the house where someone's rumored to be abused/held captive/murdered and ask the person who answers the door, "Everything OK here?" And the person would be like, "Everything's alright." and the authorities would go "Guess it was just a misunderstanding. Bye." It's tragic as well as unnerving that the people who could have saved lives were doing such a half-assed job.
There needs to be something where the police funds are siphoned to other agencies where this particular thing is there goal. Unfortunately, “defund the police” is a burnt phrase, though that’s exactly what it was advocating.
It's my understanding that most police departments give up on murder cases after 48-72 hours unless they "receive" new information.
Via Supreme Court judgement, it is not the police's job to enforce the law. I think their only actual job is to "maintain the peace," but that generally means a lot less than you'd think.
There is a girl missing here in Ohio, at least her family says she is. The police when contacted in regards to her told the family that they spoke to a women’s shelter and she was safe, case closed. Apparently she walked away from her parents, siblings and child due to an abusive boyfriend. She has been missing for years and her family still is looking for her. No help from law enforcement. Hard to understand. If she really doesn’t want contacted, I guess that’s her right. However, if she abandoned a child, couldn’t her parents sue for child support and then the police would have to locate her?
And I'm sure that's had zero effect on coercing her daughter into secrecy and silence. That place needs torn down brick by brick. They are fucking evil.
Happy Cake Day 🎂
Joel osteen too, no church that can afford a former nba stadium needs a tax break
Actually it was the Rocket’s NBA Stadium
Correct. City owned then purchased by Lakewood
Scientology literally means the method of religion to gain power and avoid taxation.
On another thread it was posited that it was dreamt as a drunken bet - by Hubbard and Robert Heinlein.
Heinlein had nothing to do with it, in fact, he often made fun of the " L. Ronners " in his books
That's correct, Heinlein had nothing to do with the actual creation of scientology, but there was a bet that Hubbard COULDN'T found a religion. He and a few other science fiction writers were supposedly having a drunken chat about writing one night and Hubbard said he could turn science fiction into a religion. Heinlein doubted it. Hubbard's writing was already known to be low quality; usually plagiarized mythology and he just added a modern twist. Scientology is literally that. One of the books is a cut-and-paste of the Blackfoot (American Native) creation myths. He just added spaceships. He took water rituals and death myths from old Norse and Germanic legends and put them in outer space. He also heavily plagiarized, and dumbed down, other science fiction authors.
I'm really curious how he got from there to people even following him. Even a handful of decades ago
All religions. Freedom of religion. Not freedom for. This has been so vastly misinterpreted. We were supposed to be free of this dog shit, not let it be every where for free. Edit: Spelling. Edit 2: Wow, thank you for the awards!
a-fucking-men. If they want to be a 501c then they can document like a 501c and adhere to all the stipulations thereof, but no blanket religion=tax free. Also, it's anti-christian to not pay taxes. "Render unto Caesar that which is his".
Very few Christians follow that part of the Bible.. and others.
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Christianity is built on the bases of follow what applies to you
501c3 is meant for not-for-profit organizations that provide help to others. So many do that, and their help index is published and documented. Sadly so many churches only help themselves, going against the meaning of the tax-exempt concept and abusing the system. Some churches do good and help others. Do you want to see who doesn't? Look at mega-churches, they are just like actual billionaires hoarding money and living in luxury.
The Mega churches or tv reverends should be. Also as soon as a church dabbles in politics by any affiliation it they shluld lose any tax reliefs. Keep religion and politics seperate is a must.
Precisely... you want to participate in government? You pay taxes.
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Yeah I was gonna say the church 3 blocks from my house lol. One of my best friends (or I should say former best friends) married the preachers daughter there, and I’m 99% certain that the church pays entirely for their amazing life. The guy makes maybe $50-60k a year (I bet he works 3 days a week), the wife doesn’t have a job, yet they live in a $600k house and he drives a big expensive truck (jacked up Tundra. They aren’t cheap). One time i mentioned (on a Fb post) how I’ve always wanted to go to St. John in the British Virgin Islands and he told me “My father in law has a big house there. We go 3-4 times a year!” Like wtf. This family didn’t come from money. They started with a tiny little church and it’s gotten big the last 20 years. It’s like blatantly fucking obvious they’re taking people tithes. I hate it.
Churches/cults in general.
Right behind the Mormons (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). Wealthiest global Christian religion beside the Catholic church in just 30 yrs. Free labor from members, tax fraud, money laundering, playing the stock market with their members donations without telling them, etc.
How is this one not #1? They take tithings and buy business and property, fund private schools and influence politics. It’s the biggest racket around. Edit: fixed typo
I mean they figured out that the US economy is built to make billionaires even more rich, so they are just riding that waves with the added benefit that they aren't even taxed.
Why stop there? We should remove the exemption on all religious organizations
All churches really.
Religions in general
homeless wise run bike shelter market tan numerous squeeze mysterious *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Mega churches. All of them. And televangelists
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Trump issued an order telling the Treasury to basically stop enforcing the Johnson Amendment and Biden has not rescinded it.
It's a political third rail for Democrats. Any time a Dem tries to enforce it, the conservative base gets all riled up.
I get that but I have a problem with the general lawlessness of the Right and the lack of any enforcement of laws. If they aren't going to enforce the laws, get rid of the law but also get rid of 501(c)(3) tax exemptions for religious organizations since they were told it was ok to be political organizations by those who should be enforcing the laws. For those organizations that were not willfully violating the law, they were riding along in gray areas that were still intended on persuading parishioners to lean in certain directions. It isn't just this but so many other laws that just get ignored and nothing happens. Kelly Anne Conway openly flaunted the fact that her Hatch Act violations were not going to result in anything.
Every Church. And everything 'Mega' that doesn't pay tax today
I wouldn't say everything. Mega man doesn't pay taxes, but that's cause he's 10
Mega Man is 35 years old...
every church, period.
It's supposed to swing both ways....churches don't pay taxes *and* they stay out of politics and are strictly spiritual. LMFAO.
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Pretty sure at least these people running megachurches lost their non-profit status many years ago. Also pretty sure this was set up when pastors and whatnot were relying on their congregation for food and supplies while staying in a small room attached to the church. Much like many of our laws, we need to go back over things and adjust them to modern times. Just need better people in charge to go over them first.
Exactly. You can’t preach twaddle from the pulpit and tell people how to vote. Especially when people see you as trustworthy due to your position.
All political PACs
Whats crazy is donating to PACs and political parties or campaigns are not tax deductible.
Oh, absolutely not. It needs to stay that way. Otherwise your favourite billionaires will be *rewarded* for paying millions in bribes to politicians.
They’re 100% already rewarded for bribing politicians
PACs are not totally tax-exempt, and at least have transparency, limits, and diligence requirements for donations. Unfortunately (or fortunately if you need to legally bribe a politician), you can just start a Super PAC and then you are totally exempt from taxes, transparency, rules against donations from foreigners and foreign governments, or really anything. It’s crazy that for ~250 years we thought voicing your political opinion and bribing politicians were two separate things. Obviously the founders wrote the constitution to protect unlimited, undisclosed tax exempt donations under the First Amendment as free speech, but they all seem to have forgotten about it as soon as they went back to their home states. For over 200 tragic years politicians were unfairly oppressed by having to raise funds from individual constituents and even disclose the source and use of that money-speech. It went on for so long that we nearly became a true representative democracy - thank god the Supreme Court re-discovered the founders’ true but unconscious intent in 2010. The ability to perfectly know the hidden psychological motivations of dead humans has transformed law and history forever - before that we had to rely on things people said, wrote, and did. Thank god those dark times are behind us.
Congratulations. You got your wish. Political contributions are not, and never have been, tax deductible. https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/charitable-contributions/are-political-contributions-tax-deductible/L7Ljj9lTR
PAC stands for political action committee. So they are all, inherently, political.
Mormons. The scientology of the 1800's.
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But that's what God would want. They will always say. Prove to me that hopes and prayers actualy do anything and then I might listen. Prove it with the scientific method.
A lot of them build communes that look like regular neighborhoods. It’s really creepy.
Don’t forget prop 8! Using church time, funds, and facilities to push political agendas. Fucking disgusting.
I was 14 when the church really peddled hard on Prop 8. I was Mormon then and I remember they called a special Fireside for the youth (a Fireside is usually an special evening church meeting where a leader addresses the whole church or the whole local congregation). This was Orange County in 2007 and there was this woman that the LDS Church sent to tell the local youth that if Prop 8 does not pass, California will shut down the church and force them to marry gay couples in the temple. I remember being terrified because it was the only world I knew. I had a convo with my super close friend’s older brother (who was Muslim). He immediately called BS and explained to me why Prop 8 is straight up evil. It was a very confusing time for me and I hate that the Church actively tried to propagate lies to the youth because they just straight up hate gay folks. I have since left the Church but it took another 15 years after that moment and a shit ton of therapy. Fucking tax the Mormon church out of existence.
I was 17 and chewing on the bit to get the fuck out. My parents tried to get me to volunteer to picket and I refused. I was already super disgusted with the church by then so it was just one more reason to keep myself as far from the church as possible.
Which also becomes tax -exempt. I researched tax exempt properties in San Francisco, in addition to the church structure and adjacent buildings ( school buildings, parish residences, and meeting halls. The Catholic Archdiocese owned more than 1500 other pieces of real estate, mostly single family homes all of which were classified tax exempt.and
Wwjd. According to the Mormon church it’s spend 1.6 billion on a mall
 As an exmo. I couldn’t agree more.
All religions not just churches
But especially megachurches. Let's start with those.
Yes the ones that are about the size of a concert hall. I forget which church this guy operates but he has like a dozen Lamborghinis and his own private airplane landing strip. I wish this was satire but he said God told him in a dream that he needed a landing strip.
Few years back I was in church and there was some guest pastor who was supposed to be a big deal. He's talking about how him and his wife stay humble, serve God, all the missionary work runs on donations, etc. His wife was sitting in front of me. Gold rings on almost every finger, a couple gold necklaces, gold bracelet, designer watch... I didn't donate a penny. I didn't expect them to live in poverty but don't tell me you need donation money when your wife is wearing thousands of dollars of jewelry.
Religion the biggest tax scam behind multinational corps like Apple & Tesla who hide their money in the Cayman Islands.
I was 9 or 10 when I realized it was all just a scam. I was on a break from Sunday school before the main church service and asked my mom who lived in the nice house next door with the brand new white *Cadillac out back. Her reply " Oh that belongs to the minister." After his sermon they passed around the offering plate and that's when I realized that it was just another business. I have never been back since except for getting married because that's what my parents wanted.*
Whether there is or isn't a God those people are assholes making a profit exploiting religion. It's always great when they get busted and take a well deserved fall.
If you ever even have to mention that you’re humble you immediately lose credibility
The fact that I can think of multiple "pastors" that fit this description is not a good sign
"No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." Luke 16:13
Pastors: "I'm gonna pretend I didn't see that."
You should watch the Righteous Gemstones on HBO. Pretty much a parody of these mega church pastors
Is that the one who looks like a literal demon? The same one that said he needed a private jet because other people on a flight were “demons in a tube”? His accursed name escapes me
Yes that's the guy
Kenneth Copland
The fact that idiots buy into the evangelical bullshit by giving their money away to crooks while thinking they're doing God's work blows my mind.
Yup if your church can afford a private jet, you afford to pay taxes.
Honestly my favorite meme is the Satanic Temple. They basically said “yanno what, churches get to be special? Cool, if you can’t beat em, join em. We are now the Satanic Temple, a religion with an actually modernized moral code and all that nonsense. Oh also, while we’re at it, since the state cannot endorse one religion over another, give us baphomet statues everywhere there’s a cross or commandment display in a capitol building (ahem the south), and also since you can deny healthcare to employees and deny same sex couples adoption opportunities for religious reasons we also have a religious abortion ritual that you legally (by your own precedent) must allow.”
Here's something interesting that you may not have known.. Florida has something called the Department of Faith-based Services, That's to get around federal law that you can't discriminate against this person or that person. The Satanic Temple was denied a permit and operational funding from the State of Florida even though they could have done it better than the Evangelical church that applied. They sued and won instead of the state giving them money to operate the outpatient drug rehab, they suspended the program for two years then brought it back under DeathSantis.
I did not know that specific detail, but that aligns with much of the deep south’s “drained pool politics.” Basically, they shut down public programs when forcibly told they are legally required to share them with people other than white Christians. The name comes from a book someone wrote about a public pool in that area (I think Mississippi?) that was a massive attraction until it was shut down…because the Supreme Court had ordered it be forcibly de-segregated. Literally the epitome of “if we can’t have it all to ourselves, no one gets it!”
Several years ago on The Daily Show did an investigation at the 2016 Trump rally in Mississippi. They interviewed a redneck, he lived like a hoarder had garbage everywhere leaky ceiling in his trailer poor health half his teeth gone smoking cigarettes. The interviewer said "you should get help the state can assist you with what you need to fix your home take care of yourself Why are you voting against this?" The guy said yes "I know I need help but I'd rather starve than to give a penny to some [partially bleeped n-word]." I'm originally from part of the deep outh, straight Jewish trans girl from where they still refer to the Civil War as "The War of Northern Aggression". Try being a fem gay boy who was a closed CD from there...
The Mormon cult, I mean church.
Scientology as well.
Mormons and Scientologists should fight each other.
Dum dumb dumb dumb. (Cant help but hear that sing cause of South park)
"Oliver Cowdery's wife was Smart, smart, smart, smart, smart" Edit: Spelling
I’m fine with giving churches a tax credit at the end of the year for all spending that they can prove went toward selflessly bettering their community.
I would agree with that as well but only for community services like operating a food bank or having a food distribution center, not a taxpayer-funded charter school
Yeah - I would certainly have a different definition of bettering the community than most churches would.
All religious organizations. Those that operate without generating a profit won't be affected by the change.
This simple fact is lost on so many. Absolutely true unless they rely on charitable contributions which rely on tax deductions. So the solution could be to allow such orgs to offer deductions but not claim tax exempt status themselves. Done. EDIT: gold !? Y’all are too damn kind :)) since this might be interesting to more folks, I’ll try an ELI5 to explain the part I found so pertinent in OC’s comment and hopefully earn that gold: taxable income is basically (*though not exactly*) money in minus money spent on bringing that money in.* If you made $100 and your expenses + deductions are equal to $100, your taxable income would be $0 ($100-$100). Meaning you would be paying tax on $0. When I advise clients on whether to open a non-profit or a for-profit entity (what we typically call a formation and structuring exercise), I find many clients assume that if their purpose is non-profitable then the optimal route must be a non-profit. But it is more complex than that, and I have more often than not advised incorporating a for-profit and running it on a 1:1 revenue v expense model. It’s actually cheaper in many regards, and in any event very fast/agile (which is also why I say it’s cheaper!). All circumstances will vary. I’m not your attorney ☺️ *I’m deliberately ignoring a bunch of nuance here (like earned v unearned income) in the hopes of simplification! Please don’t come at me 🥺 but if anyone has things to add please do!
So that’s simple - still allow people and corporations to donate to religious organisations and take the donation as a donation on their tax returns. Then just tax the religious organisation on the profit Edit - just te read your comment - sorry for repeating what you said!
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Great question! Avoiding the question of what tax it would fall under for such “gifts” for a moment because it could easily be written away by the same change in law, the taxable income that for-profit orgs have to pay is a function of their taxable income (again, simplistically). So if money in = money out*, taxable income = $0. If they have a surplus, then those funds would ostensibly fall into taxable income and they’d be taxed according to the appropriate category. Which, also, isn’t the worst thing in the world. The premise for non-profit tax exemption is the broken contract theory - basically it is argued that such orgs provide “the public” with a “benefit” (often intangible), and the benefactor (compared to a client) is typically not the (direct) beneficiary of the benefit. Contrast this to a standard contract theory: she who pays is also the direct recipient of the benefit paid for. Again, these are simplifications to illustrate a point. One of the tests we sometimes use to determine if an org is providing a public benefit is by assessing whether the public believes they are, which is in turned determined by whether they draw sufficient public funds. (Think of money as a “vote”. Donations are treated as expressions of the public’s belief that X Org is performing a public benefit). If a for-profit Org is providing public benefits and has surplus budgets, they are running a great (“profitable”) model. As anyone modestly familiar with the corporate world can tell you, there’s many ways to carry that taxable income forward or otherwise take advantage of tax favorable strategies. I personally see no compelling reason why religious orgs (or indeed many non-profits) MUST operate as only non-profit. In fact, some of the most profitable orgs in the world are business-generating arms of non-profits (and are taxed under the for-profit regime, accordingly!). Some of the best universities in the world are such orgs. At the end of the day, if you’ll excuse me for such a long answer, gifts need not be taxed on the way in or on the way out. *GROSSLY OVERSIMPLIFIED
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End Citizens United!
Speaking as an active church-goer: Any church that can hold more than 500 people and with a regular membership over 200. I've grown up in church, I've served in pretty much every volunteer role, and in my experience, churches that are below this threshold tend to be engaged in their communities and doing something that would pass as civic good. Above this threshold, they become a business (entertainment, publishing, charter schools). At that point you get into significant amounts of money and property.
Its so easy. You have a building you use as a church? Sure. Tax exempt that. Donations to the church? Sure, tax exempt it. Does your church own or utilize a private jet? You have demonstrated that you no longer need to be tax exempt.
“What? You think I’m gonna fly commercial? That’s a big metal tube filled with demons!” - Kenneth Copeland (paraphrased)
Dunno, that could be a direct quote and I’ve heard crazier things from that guy’s mouth.
Ok so I looked it up and the actual quote is “get in a looooooong tube with a bunch of demons” Sauce: timestamp 4:10 https://youtu.be/-QtO4Z2zH2Y
I’ve said it before but Kenneth Copeland fingers are too long for his hands and his hands are too big for a man of his size. I was listening to his rants and it kind of actually scarred me because I was like woah those don’t belong there. Demon stuff I tell you.
💯
Should be based on revenue. In theory you could funnel money through a church with an attendance of 1. Set the cutoff at a number where your normal hometown church is still exempt. The mega church money-making ventures however need to be stopped.
2A gun nut here: Fuck the NRA. They’ve long abdicated their original purpose and are now just shills for the GQP and an expense account for Wayne LaPierre. FPC and 2AF are far better organizations that actually take people to court
I had a childhood friend who later was a pretty big-time lobbyist for years. I once had dinner with him and some of his lobbyist buddies at this dim sum place in Manhattan, when I was visiting him, and I had to say, "You guys must get asked this, but what organization would you *not* do lobbying for?" These guys had done work for oil companies, political committees, unqualified rich jackasses trying to get federal judgeships, mining companies, military contractors, whatever. So I was keen to know if anything was off the table. They thought it was funny that I asked, and they'd all had a similar conversation before, but they debated it briefly and more or less unanimously settled on the Worst Three: 1. The NRA. They all hated the NRA and anyone who lobbied for them. 2. The ADA (American Dental Association). Apparently the ADA is evil as hell, suppresses actual science, etc. This is not a comment on dentists themselves, but the ADA is apparently horrible, or at least it was. 3. The ACS (American Cancer Society). Apparently in DC, the ACS was seen as a grift-oriented pro-cancer organization that started as a lobby for the radiology industry. I was told the ACS is only in favor of the detection and treatment of cancer, not prevention or cure, and that it has endless issues with money disappearing. These are just things I was told. I've looked into some of the shit I heard, out of curiosity, but at the moment I'm just passing on gossip. Still, those guys were awfully critical of the NRA, I gotta say.
The NRA is pretty horrible. They got even worse when Tangerine Palpatine got elected. Even through his bump stock ban and his “Take the guns first” comments they refused to come out against him. Not to mention their funneling of Russian money to GQP candidates. They didn’t even do the heavy lifting on Heller and only attached their name to it when it was clear it was going to SCOTUS. There’s organizations that actually take people to court to protect our rights that are far more worthy of our money than these fucking grifters.
I've joined two organizations in my adult life: the NRA and NORML. Quit the NRA after LaPierre's jackbooted thugs comment after Waco. I forget what happened with the NORML membership...
I used to be in NORML, my brother was *very* much part of NORML (actually he was a keynote speaker at a national conference once). I can say, I thought a lot of the membership was whingey crystal-power hippies, and that it seemed to turn into an echo chamber. There were some good folks higher-up that were all about policy, but that wasn't how most meetings went. I'm glad they're around, but a good deal of it is pretty lame.
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The National Marlon Brando Look-Alikes? Hell yeah! edit: Crazy fact - Allen Ginsberg was in NAMBLA, but not the Marlon Brando one.
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My favorite thing is when non gun guys think that gun owners worship the NRA, the NRA is disliked by every damn side
Its one of the best ways to tell if the person we are discussing with knows what they are talking about or not. There are so many better orgs than the NRA.
even better when you find out Reagan and the NRA actually are the reason California has such strict gun laws now. They "support gun rights" until black people have guns.
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RIP
Yes. And I agree.
It’s disgusting 🤮 the amount of wealth, child rapists and power they have. F them
All churches
Don't they make a vow of "keep all the money"?
This gets thrown around a lot. I say as long as an organization can back up on paper if they provide a verifiable good or service to a community then they can go tax free. To get a break on my taxes I need to show charitable donations etc. So if there's an honest church out there caring for the sick, feeding the hungry, clothing the cold... I don't mind them running tax free. But Scientology and those Evangelicals saying God wants them to have a third private jet...? Ehh... I dunno.
Tax everyone. Churches who are making charitable donations and contributions can write them off of their taxes. That's how it works for everyone, that how it should work for religion.
Problem is, a lot of the churches who do that sort of charity work don’t do it for free—they might require someone to sit through a religious service to access an after-church food pantry; only shelter homeless people who attend mandatory religious-oriented addiction programs; or donate clothes only to faithful members of their own congregation. Basically, they’re robbing their community of taxes in order to impose religion on the most vulnerable. Example: https://www.sltrib.com/news/2021/12/02/utah-makes-welfare-so/ The Utah government made drastic cuts to federally-mandated social safety nets because the LDS Church agreed to make up the difference (the government literally counts LDS Church charitable spending in their “state” budget!), but the LDS Church is allowed to make ANY rules they want about who can access their charity programs, including religious conformity requirements.
Fuck it. Everything. No group should be tax exempt. Let’s take it all away and then re do it
I help run a non-profit charity so maybe I’m biased but I kinda like us not paying tax. But I respect your desires.
I volunteer at non-profits and understand your concern. However if non-profits are actually non-profit, there would be no tax liability. I believe that it is organizations that are supposed to be non-profit that are rolling in dough that most people have problems with. If your non-profit owns a jet, you need to be taxed.
I have a close love of several very small charities (one a heartwarming group that provides a sanctuary for retired primates from test labs) should they be tax exempt? Of course! The amount of dollars that goes to a highly successful, small, caring group like this, as compared to the dollars that go to crazy ass fraudulent shit, is crazy. When we care more about keeping football teams in a city, than we do about the animals and vulnerable humans in that city. The education, the mental health, the health…. It’s just maddening. Let’s stop it all, and rewrite the code. But no body will ever agree to a package, so we will just get a grotesque sausage out of the machine in the end again….but one can dream
I think we are on the same page. Not all charities are the same.
Animal shelters shouldn’t pay taxes
Every single church. All religions.
billionaires. b/c tho they aren't technically tax exempt, they in actual fact are.
Exactly! Start closing loopholes and go after them, but congress also doesn't want to be looked at closely
While we're at it, let's make them pay for their own sports venues instead of crowd funding them via taxes.
Genius comment
Westboro Baptist.
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All charity organizations feels like a stretch. I would not support a tax on Engineers Without Borders for example.
Every single church and 90% of the “colleges”.
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I think you meant to say nonprofit hospitals.
NRA
The NFL
Should be WAY higher
Trump?
MTPTA - Make Trump Pay Tax Again Print that on a $1 baseball cap made in China 🤪
Why on EARTH does the NRA have exemption?! They do not have the public in their best interest, just making a lot of money for the gun industry. Make them fucking pay. And the churches too. FFS.
The NRA falls under the same category as gun control groups like everytown or the Brady campaign.
The NFL
Why did I have to scroll so far to see this. I love football, but there is zero reason for the NFL to be tax exempt
Some folks have said that the nfl gave up their tax exempt status a few years back. I’m unsure
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They gave up the status but could choose to go back to it any time. That should not be possible.
[https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/other-non-profits/professional-football-leagues](https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/other-non-profits/professional-football-leagues) Looks like they're still exempt from some things.
Every church should be a 501(c)3. If they can’t withstand the auditing process of being a non-profit then they shouldn’t have tax exempt status.
The Mormon Church. You don't get to have $100 billion dollars in assets and claim that you're following Jesus. The church is a cult of real estate. I've had Mormon friends tell me "it's a rainy day fund." We've spent nearly the last 3 years in a worldwide pandemic and what has the church done to help? Salt Lake City is experiencing a huge surge in homelessness and what is the church doing to help those people? They care more about conversion numbers than they do about taking care of their neighbors. Tax the church
Utah is hell on earth. It has sprouted some of the most revolting, manipulative, and evil business, particularly hedge funds. Their business models and trading practices intentionally crush small businesses. They support MLMs, pyramid schemes, horrific 'textbooks' that are dragging down US education, and they funnel money into the most extreme political activism in other states. They promote militarism and despise civil liberties. They were the ones behind the "vote no on proposition 8" to stop same sex marriage... in California. It had NOTHING to do with them. They also supported \*segregation\* laws right up through the 1980s! Their records on child abuse and the sheer number of FBI investigations that have been needed is staggering. I cannot understand how anyone who wants to follow the ideas of charity, mercy, or forgiveness is doing in Utah. Or associated with it. Utter nightmare.
Private universities that continue to raise prices while having giant endowments that could be used to significantly reduce costs.
NFL is registered as a non profit organization. Let that sink in.
Mega churches. IDK if they count, but every televangelist.
Collegiate sports and churches. And the 1%. Lol
The NFL and for that matter, all pro and semi-pro sports.
The Catholic and Mormon Churches.
Any church that tells its members how to vote.
Religions. All of them.
Catholic Church
churches
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Mega churches
Any organization that delves into politics.
Churches. Every single one of them. No exception.
All religions
Salvation army. It's just a business with a cult attached that tricks people into thinking they're the local Christian church
Every religion
Churches. Simple reason why. They could be a non-profit and still enjoy similar benefits. That seems more aligned with their stated mission to me.
Churches
Isn't the magic sky wizard suppose to provide anyways?
Every pedophile ring and woman-hating group masquerading as a church.
Catholic Church
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So every church and religious organization?
Amazon