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From: bennison@clt.dec.com (Victor Bennison, DTN 381-2156, ZKO2-3/M31, 3M35)
Newsgroups: net.taxes
Subject: Re: taxing churches
Message-ID: <4879@decwrl.DEC.COM>
Date: Tue, 19-Aug-86 10:08:15 EDT
Article-I.D.: decwrl.4879
Posted: Tue Aug 19 10:08:15 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 20-Aug-86 08:35:47 EDT
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Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
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First of all, let's get back onto the subject of taxes.  PLEASE!!!
Move discussions of other subjects into the appropriate newsgroups.

As for the question of taxing churches.  The whole question revolves
around the separation of church and state.  If you can tax churches
then you can control them, as, for example, congress tries to control
our spending and saving habits through tax law.  So we don't tax
legitimate churches.  How do we decide if a church is legitimate?
I remember a while back when the latest tax evasion craze was to form
your own religion.  I had a friend (let's say an acquaintance) who did
that for awhile.  I don't know how that is controlled, but I know it's
a lot tougher to get away with that kind of nonsense now.  The ultimate
answer to the question of whether an organization is a church lies with
the judicial system.  Does that makes you uneasy?  It doesn't bother me
particularly.

The question of non-profit organizations is an entirely separate issue.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think there is anything in the
Constitution that says anything about the separation of state and
non-profit organizations.  They are given a tax break, I presume, because
they do good things for the society.  At least that's the theory.
There are certain formal steps an organization has to go through to
get its tax-free non-profit status.  Maybe someone else could fill us
in on the details.  I don't know who controls this or what redress is
available to organizations which are turned down.

    				Vick Bennison
    				...decvax!decwrl!rhea!clt!bennison
    				(603) 881-2156