[Vision2020] Tax Exemptions

[Jim Meyer]

John,
Although your questions are reasonable, you should back up and try a
different tact. There is more than sufficient precedent for giving tax
exemptions to churches. In fact, the IRS does not even require a church to
register as a non-profit organization in order to be non-proft--they just
assume it. This assumed right of nonprofit status given to churches goes so
far back it is unlikely you would ever be able to change it. Furthermore,
after more thought you might not want to remove nonprofit status from
churches because that concept is part of what makes separation of church and
state workable.

That said, you should be very concerned about churches that abuse the public
trust by exhibiting behavior that is clearly for personal profit and/or
participate in unrelated non-church activities (and who illegally hide and
pay no tax on those activities).

You might enlarge your concern to include nonprofit but private schools.
Some states give tax exemptions only to public schools, period. Idaho is a
little less clear on the subject. Even though the state constitution
prohibits the inclusion of faith based material in any instructional program
financed with tax money, it allows property tax exemption for nonprofit
(private) schools. This might sound contradictory to you, but there is
precedent for the idea that a tax exemption is not the same as a direct
transfer of public funds to a private school. From a common sense point of
view, a tax break is the same as direct state support of private schools,
but legally that is not the case. Furthermore, (again due to abuse by only a
few) there are private nonprofit schools that are not serving the public
interest and thus should absolutely not be granted nonproft status. To
illustrate the danger of this, think about a nonprofit school that teaches
terrorism against the state, or a nonprofit school that rewrites history to
say slavery was wonderful, or a nonprofit school that uses propaganda and
indoctrination to produce one dimensional graduates who lack empathy toward
the rest of a society that doesn't happen to share their views. Can you say
Taliban?

Should for instance, a tax break be given to a "nonprofit" organization that
promotes and sells a school curriculum that caters to a religious or
ideological movement? I think not, personally, especially given the obvious
abuse of nonprofit status inherent in such a venture because of competition
with other businessess that are taxed and because of sales occuring on a
national scale that are unfairly subsidized at a local level. Finally, the
public should not support a one-sided education based on propaganda and
indocrination--such divisiveness is dangerous and certainly not in the
public interest.

Anyway, there is something else for you to think about.

Jim Meyer



Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2004 08:28:04 -0700
From: "John Danahy" <jdanahy at turbonet.com>
Subject: [Vision2020] Religious Tax Exemption
To: "Vision2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Message-ID: <000b01c470c9$a8f06240$e274e4ce at laurie3zo89bgq>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

The recent tussle over tax exemptions given to NSA and Anselm house have
given me reason to pause and think about the nature of religion and
organized religious communities.  What is organized religion but the selling
of one version of the word of God?  Why should organized religion, which
owns property, "sells" religion for money, pays compensation, be treated
differently form other businesses?



The time has come to put an end to tax exemptions for organized religion.
They should be treated the same as all other businesses on the Palouse,
including being given the opportunity to build in the Alturas Park.



John