Pastors pledge to defy IRS, preach politics from pulpit ahead of election

[Danke]

No, there is no constitutional tax exemption for churches, any more than there's one for newspapers. While it's true that the Internal Revenue Code exempts churches from the normal requirement that an entity must first apply for tax-exempt status before it's recognized as a 501(c)(3) organization, the exemption from taxation is entirely statutory. Accordingly, Congress can limit the kinds of political activity such organizations can engage in.

Wrong again wrt taxation. The IRS even openly admits this one.

 

[fr33]

What? No, they're not.

Religion is a voluntary government that lobbies our coercive government to adopt their religious principles.

 

[Sonny Tufts]

Wrong again wrt taxation. The IRS even openly admits this one.

Citation?

 

[Weston White]

No, there is no constitutional tax exemption for churches, any more than there's one for newspapers. While it's true that the Internal Revenue Code exempts churches from the normal requirement that an entity must first apply for tax-exempt status before it's recognized as a 501(c)(3) organization, the exemption from taxation is entirely statutory. Accordingly, Congress can limit the kinds of political activity such organizations can engage in.

Negative, the sole purpose of taxation is to generate revenue, being so necessary and proper in paying off the national debt, for having been incurred in the performance of (A) providing for the common defense and/or (B) general welfare of the ‘United States’ (i.e., not specific groups of “people”, but the nation, itself, as a whole); while the legitimacy of ‘taxation’ itself is not to be morphed into a governmental tool for discretionarily punishing or encouraging certain activities or purchases by the whims and agendas of those, whoever, holding public offices.

However, at present this is the very desire of the federal government and is the reason as to why our Nation is untwining itself into shambles (for such is the inevitable result, Mr. Anderson), while cities across America are seeking options for bankruptcy, and why the people thereof have been left beggaring, in-mass, for all the provisional grandness that is state and federal subsistence, err... capitulation.

 

[Nationwide]

from IRS Publication 557:

"Churches. Although a church, its integrated auxiliaries, or a convention or association of churches is not required to file Form 1023 to be exempt from federal income tax or to receive tax deductible contributions, the organization may find it advantageous to obtain recognition of exemption. In this event, you should submit information showing that your organization is a church, synagogue, association or convention of churches, religious order, or religious organization that is an integral part of a church, and that it is engaged in carrying out the function of a church."

Clearly, a church isn't required to be a 501(c)(3) organization. You don't need an exemption from something that didn't apply in the first place. I contribute to both 501(c)(3) and NON-501(c)(3) organizations caring nothing about "tax deductible contributions." Why? Because I pay no income tax in the first place; that's better than a deduction. I redeem LAWFUL MONEY. I avoid private credit of the Federal Reserve. Similarly, a church can totally avoid federal control & taxes by avoiding Federal Reserve money.

Chuck Baldwin: State-Owned Churches Are Killing America

 

[AGRP]

Im a singular church. Can I be tax exempt?

 

[LibertyEagle]

Religion is a voluntary government that lobbies our coercive government to adopt their religious principles.

That is silly. You can't hang that on religion.

 

[Ender]

Churches are already exempt, no need to become a 501(c)(3) organization.

That is correct.

Becoming a 501(c)3 puts you under the jurisdiction of .gov and is entirely unnecessary.

And for those of you with your own personal prejudices, churches have been tax-exempt since the founding of this country; because you do not like a certain church has no bearing on the legality and constitutional correctness of this fact.

 

[fr33]

That is silly. You can't hang that on religion.

Why should known lobbyists be tax-exempt while I am not?

 

[fr33]

That is correct.

Becoming a 501(c)3 puts you under the jurisdiction of .gov and is entirely unnecessary.

And for those of you with your own personal prejudices, churches have been tax-exempt since the founding of this country; because you do not like a certain church has no bearing on the legality and constitutional correctness of this fact.

The thieves that thrive off being exempt exploit those of us that are not tax exempt. Everyone should be exempt. Those that are exempt now, are only that way because they steal from the rest of us. Stop supporting theft.

 

[Ender]

The thieves that thrive off being exempt exploit those of us that are not tax exempt. Everyone should be exempt. Those that are exempt now, are only that way because they steal from the rest of us. Stop supporting theft.

As a minister under a Vow of Poverty, I can tell you right now that I do not exploit or steal from you or anyone else. I spend my life helping others and existing on very little.

Churches have always been exempt and it keeps them free from political influence. The 501(c)3 was a ploy to draw churches under the gov. Maybe you should learn a little real history, instead of public school garbage.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Pastors endorsing candidates

As part of Pulpit Freedom Sunday, religious leaders across the country will endorse political candidates — an act that flies in the face of Internal Revenue Service rules about what tax-exempt organizations, such as churches, can and cannot do.

The IRS says tax-exempt organizations, or what they refer to as a 501(c)(3), are prohibited from participating in partisan campaigning for or against political candidates. Yet, despite what's in the rules, the agency continues to struggle to do anything about those who defy the law.

Though the regulation has been in place since 1954, in 2009, a U.S. District Court in Minnesota ruled the IRS no longer had the appropriate staff to investigate places of worship after a reorganization changed who in the agency had the authority to launch investigations.

New procedures for conducting church audits have been pending since 2009, which has left the IRS virtually impotent in conducting any kind of new investigations. The IRS did not respond to questions.

Despite the lack of manpower, organizations such as Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal ministry that first launched Pulpit Freedom Sunday in 2008, say they take the IRS restriction seriously — even as they disagree with it.

"Every pastor and every church has the right to decide what their pastor preaches from the pulpit and to not have that dictated to them by the IRS," said Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for the Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom, formerly the Alliance Defense Fund.

Tax code exemption /non-exemption has been a major problem with freedom of speech for decades and most people have been unaware that pastors are bound to not speaking about many subjects due to the IRS threatening to strip them of their tax exemptions


http://richarddawkins.net/news_articles/2012/10/6/pastors-sermons-will-defy-irs-rules#.UHBuvK7fnKR

 

[Anti Federalist]

I'm in favor of this.

 

[staerker]

You can't say what you want to say unless you pay your taxes.

 

[GeorgiaAvenger]

Good for them. Defy the IRS!

 

[CaptUSA]

You can't say what you want to say unless you pay your taxes.

Is this a joke?

 

[Danke]

Tax code exemption /non-exemption has been a major problem with freedom of speech for decades and most people have been unaware that pastors are bound to not speaking about many subjects due to the IRS threatening to strip them of their tax exemptions


http://richarddawkins.net/news_articles/2012/10/6/pastors-sermons-will-defy-irs-rules#.UHBuvK7fnKR

Churches do not need to become 501(c)3 organizations subject to IRS regulations. They are already tax exempt and have the freedom to say whatever they want and remain outside the scope of the tax code.

 

[Peace&Freedom]

Churches do not need to become 501(c)3 organizations subject to IRS regulations. They are already tax exempt and have the freedom to say whatever they want and remain outside the scope of the tax code.

Amen! The problem, of course, is that these churches are not truly challenging the IRS until they renounce their 501-c3 status, and speak their mind on political issues. But operating under that status they are themselves clouding the clear constitutional issue, because the IRS can always say "they consented to be a regulated charitable organization when accepting 501-c3, so they are acting in violation of the regulations, period." The pastors have to fully get away from sitting on (or in between) both stools.

 

[Seraphim]

The IRS is the extortion racket of the Federal Reserve. Fuck the IRS - it's an irrelevant goon squad once the real source - The Fed - is attacked.

Publicly supporting FEDERAL INCOME TAX evasion is the most humanitarian and patriotic thing you can do. ACTUALLY evading your Federal Income Tax is SAINT like. That's how complacent and fucked up things are - I truly believe that those who tell the IRS to fuck off are human incarnations of angels.

 

[staerker]

Is this a joke?

Yes.