IRS to investigate US bishops' conference over US election

  • Thread starter Thread starter lizardley
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
manualman said:
It is not “hush money” it is simply the recognition that the public at large benefits from the existence of non-profit institutions. Taxing churches makes about as much sense as taxing public school districts, police departments and military bases. It’s nonsense.
Click to expand...
Well schools educate our children. Police departments keep order and safety, and military bases protect our military and house all those who serve our country and keep us safe. The Church is nowhere near the same. We don’t HAVE to have churches, they are optional. So really it DOES make sense. If you wanted to a church could meet in a park, or someone’s house, or rent one of the many schools that have closed due to lack of tax money. The Church should be taxed,–it’s gone beyond guidance on how to prayerfully vote to ordering people who to vote for and that’s too far. Since a large number of Catholics voted Democratic, it seems that the Church is putting itself in hot water needlessly. But so be it–let them pay taxes.
 
JimG said:
When applied to taxes, “progressive” means that the higher your income, the higher tax rate you pay. “Regressive,” in this instance, means a flat tax, in which everyone pays the same rate regardless of income. High income people would feel the pinch a lot less than low income people even though the rate is the same.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the explanation. I think if they didn’t start collecting taxes until $50,000 was made, people with lower incomes would actually pay less in taxes than they do now, while eliminating all deductions, those with higher incomes might pay the same or more.
 
Irishgal49 said:
Well schools educate our children. Police departments keep order and safety, and military bases protect our military and house all those who serve our country and keep us safe. The Church is nowhere near the same. We don’t HAVE to have churches, they are optional. So really it DOES make sense. If you wanted to a church could meet in a park, or someone’s house, or rent one of the many schools that have closed due to lack of tax money. The Church should be taxed,–it’s gone beyond guidance on how to prayerfully vote to ordering people who to vote for and that’s too far. Since a large number of Catholics voted Democratic, it seems that the Church is putting itself in hot water needlessly. But so be it–let them pay taxes.
Click to expand...
I also think that if the Church was taxed perhaps we’d hear a lot less from the liberals about how “the Church is politically involved! How dare it! It should lose its tax exempt status!!!”

In reality, however, they will probably still whine about the Church’s political involvement even if the Church did lose tax exempt status.
 
If the Church loses its tax-exempt status, so should every other charitable and non-profit organization, from Planned Parenthood to the Red Cross to the Boy Scouts to Big Brothers. Every one. Then everyone could just rely on the government. That seems to be what many people want anyway.
 
CMatt25 said:
Do you really think people sitting in the pews or those hearing of the bishops’ opposition or support, didn’t know which candidates matched up with which positions? I missed it all in person this yr other than what I read here or saw elsewhere. But I still remember a moment12 yrs ago when I was at a Catholic Mass and the priest made it perfectly clear without mentioning George W Bush, that it was Bush and his party who we should vote for based on the choice issue. I didn’t listen and I’m glad I didn’t. The Bush yrs didn’t work out all the great. We were led into 2 unpaid wars. One of the countries we went to war against had nothing to do with 911. They also had no WMD as we were led to believe. We ended the Bush yrs with the worst economic times since the Great Depression. Times which we are still 4 yrs later trying to dig ourselves out of. And abortion is still legal.
Click to expand...
I sure hope they knew which candidates matched up with which positions. Because it is important that they know which candidates support intrinsic evils.
 
Tampa_Dave said:
Let us hope so for the sake of American Catholicism. 👍
Click to expand...
If the government wants to destroy the Church, I don’t think it would begin with things like this, especially complaints filed by whiny outfits like the “Freedom from Religion Foundation.”

No, it would start smaller. It would start with, maybe, requiring Catholic institutions to violate their consciences or pay fines. Hmmm.

Then it might escalate into making gay marriage a civil right, and fining Church organizations who refuse to host gay wedding receptions, or photographers who refuse to photograph gay weddings. Hmmm.

And then maybe it would designate certain speech as ‘hate speech’ and fine what might have been in the past merely expressions of religious doctrine.

Oh, there are all sorts of steps it might take, including requiring the public funding of abortion. And it could go on from there. We’ve got a long way to go yet.
 
CMatt25 said:
And abortion is still legal.
Click to expand...
Yes, abortion is still legal because far too many people who ought to know better keep voting for the people that place protecting it (and funding it whenever politically possible) above all other political priorities.

The fact that the Dems were willing to let the entire health care bill fail before accepting restrictions against abortion to be written into the bill tells it all. If that’s not enough to prove the case, then consider that asthmatics dependent for life on meds have to pay copays, cancer vicitims owe copays for chemo, diabetics owe copays for insulin. But anybody who wants sterilization, abortive ‘day after’ pills or contraception gets it free. That’s priorities for ya.

The fact is that if every catholic who SHOULD have known better had voted they way they should have for the last 40 years, Ted Kennedy would have died an unemployed man and abortion would be illegal right now and you and I would be on the same side fighting for immigration reform. Instead guys JUST like you voted for guys just like Ted and therefore men and women KNOWN to be decent and honorable on the life issues have had no chance to be confirmed to the Supreme Court. Instead, republicans have only been able to confirm nebulous characters without a clear record and the results have, not suprisingly, been mixed. Nice work, there.
 
manualman said:
Yes, abortion is still legal because far too many people who ought to know better keep voting for the people that place protecting it (and funding it whenever politically possible) above all other political priorities.

The fact that the Dems were willing to let the entire health care bill fail before accepting restrictions against abortion to be written into the bill tells it all. If that’s not enough to prove the case, then consider that asthmatics dependent for life on meds have to pay copays, cancer vicitims owe copays for chemo, diabetics owe copays for insulin. But anybody who wants sterilization, abortive ‘day after’ pills or contraception gets it free. That’s priorities for ya.

The fact is that if every catholic who SHOULD have known better had voted they way they should have for the last 40 years, Ted Kennedy would have died an unemployed man and abortion would be illegal right now and you and I would be on the same side fighting for immigration reform. Instead guys JUST like you voted for guys just like Ted and therefore men and women KNOWN to be decent and honorable on the life issues have had no chance to be confirmed to the Supreme Court. Instead, republicans have only been able to confirm nebulous characters without a clear record and the results have, not suprisingly, been mixed. Nice work, there.
Click to expand...
I don’t know about the other things but insulin is free here in Michigan at Meijer and Kroger. Morning after pills are only free if given by a doctor after a rape and birth control pills here cost 10.00 to 20.00 copay. The only way a cancer victim owes a co-pay is if their insurance charges it–very unlikely. I had a friend who had cancer and only paid the 25.00 office visits. Prenatal vitamins and many antibiotics are also free here. Most pharmacies have quite a few “free” medications including some blood pressure and blood thinners that are needed by people with heart conditions.

So much for “proving” your case, huh?
 
Irishgal49 said:
I don’t know about the other things but insulin is free here in Michigan at Meijer and Kroger. Morning after pills are only free if given by a doctor after a rape and birth control pills here cost 10.00 to 20.00 copay. The only way a cancer victim owes a co-pay is if their insurance charges it–very unlikely. I had a friend who had cancer and only paid the 25.00 office visits. Prenatal vitamins and many antibiotics are also free here. Most pharmacies have quite a few “free” medications including some blood pressure and blood thinners that are needed by people with heart conditions.

So much for “proving” your case, huh?
Click to expand...
You aren’t up to speed on the insurance requirements of Obamacare. Under the new HHS mandate terms all contraception is “free” (no copay). I can’t speak for state programs that may be unique to Michigan, but unless you qualify for Medicare, neither insulin nor anything else is “free” at pharmacies in other states (and let’s be honest, Medicare isn’t “free” either). And who you working for that your insurance for cancer care costs you $25 copays?? You’re either on Medicare or you’ve got a “Cadillac” health care plan and under Obamacare some of that is going to be treated as taxabe benefits instead of the tax-free status it had before. So, if you really are getting cancer treatments for $25, expect to kiss that goodbye once Obamacare fully kicks in and Cadillac plans are taxed as income. The rest of us pay hefty deductibles and copays for serious care.

My case stands.
 
I dont understand why are you all complaining and keep using this “attack on freedom of religion” nonsense

The violation of the law is as clear as blue sky. Its not the fault of this organization that catholic priests and the Church in general failed to comply with the law on numerous occasions.
They want to get the best of the two worlds without any drawbacks. Not gonna happen.

Sitting on two chairs simply doesnt work.AT least for long.

But i think you have nothing to worry about. i doubt that they would enforce the Law as they should have done years ago.At least atm.
 
PaulinVA said:
You know, the IRS has never followed through on any tax exemption case against a church that they have started? As Taylor Swift would say, “Like - EVER”

The reason? The regulation is an unconstitutional infringement on the first amendment rights to free speech and freedom of religion. Whenever a church fights an investigation by the IRS into political activity, the IRS tries to settle and, if the church doesn’t back down, they quietly drop the case.

That’s why all of those protestant pastors endorsed candidates on that one Sunday a few weeks ago. They were trying to get an investigation started that could actually lead to a court case that could get litigated to the US Supreme Court. The IRS refuses to let that happen by never actually going to court.

So, investigate away. Nothing will come of it. AND, if anything does come of it, WE win.
Click to expand...
Agreed. But water over the bridge at this point, as the Political Candidate endorsed by the USCCB got his gluteus maximus handed to him by the Obama machine.
 
Julia_Mae said:
Hey! I’ve been saying it for months: if they don’t knock it off they will lose their IRS status. I can’t imagine what took someone this long to ask for the investigation. The violations were blatant. Some churches actually had petitions for ballot measures in the narthex and the faithful were told to sign them as they left Mass. It’s been all over the news, so, srsly, don’t try to turn this into some big anti-religion conspiracy. The IRS should have done it without anyone complaining.
Click to expand...
Irishgal49 said:
I will have to read this but I will say I have seen many violations of this. I have no problem with the Church telling up about appropriate teachings, giving us guidelines in that regard but when they all but name the candidate, make threats about someone going to hell or being barred from communion, and in some cases, actually telling you who to vote or not vote for, I say tax them all!
Click to expand...
Irishgal49 said:
Well schools educate our children. Police departments keep order and safety, and military bases protect our military and house all those who serve our country and keep us safe. The Church is nowhere near the same. We don’t HAVE to have churches, they are optional. So really it DOES make sense. If you wanted to a church could meet in a park, or someone’s house, or rent one of the many schools that have closed due to lack of tax money. The Church should be taxed,–it’s gone beyond guidance on how to prayerfully vote to ordering people who to vote for and that’s too far. Since a large number of Catholics voted Democratic, it seems that the Church is putting itself in hot water needlessly. But so be it–let them pay taxes.
Click to expand...
“In our time more than ever before, the greatest asset of those disposed toward evil is the cowardice and weakness of good men, and all the vigor of Satan’s reign is due to the easygoing weakness of Catholics. Oh! if I might ask the Divine Redeemer, as the Prophet Zachary did in spirit (Zach. 13:6a): ‘What are those wounds in the midst of Thy hands?’ The answer would not be doubtful: ‘… With these I was wounded in the house of them that loved me’ (Zach. 13:6b). I was wounded by my friends, who did nothing to defend me, and who, on every occasion, made themselves the accomplices of my adversaries. And this reproach can be leveled at the weak and timid Catholic of all countries.”
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top