Posted on 12/06/2008 2:39:19 PM PST by Dubya
A Kenneth Copeland Ministry jet worth $3.6 million has been denied tax-exempt status by the Tarrant Appraisal District, setting the stage for a battle that could require the minister to reveal his salary if he wants the jet to be tax-free.
Jeffery D. Law, Tarrant chief appraiser, said the jet was denied tax exemption because the ministry failed to disclose salaries of directors as an application requires. Law said the ministry, based in Newark, northwest of Fort Worth, will protest the denial at a hearing Monday morning.
"The application requires that they submit to us a list of salaries," Law said. "They have not given it to us, and as a result we have denied their exemption."
Compensation paid Copeland and other members of his family has been the source of a U.S. senator’s inquiry, but the televangelist has been unwilling to disclose the information publicly.
(Excerpt) Read more at star-telegram.com ...
You who is very good at exposing charlatan ministers is Rev. Manning. He has a list of them on his web site. He really does not like Crefelo Dollar and Obama.
Whatever you opinion of Televangelist ministers (I know a lot are bad, and have messed up theology),
but THIS IS A BLATANT EXAMPLE OF GOVERNMENT ABUSE of power “require the minister to reveal his salary if he wants the jet to be tax-free.
Jeffery D. Law, Tarrant chief appraiser, said the jet was denied tax exemption because the ministry failed to disclose salaries of directors as an application”
What a snot-nosed little bureaucrat! Isn’t this a violation of the ministrys’ 1st Amendment Protections?
Oh give me a break. Anyone who knows the first thing about Copeland knows he is a good man, and his ministry has done a tremendous amount of good in this world. I’m sick of this slanderous crap, including here on FR.
“Televangelist = Crook”. Total and utter nonsense.
Do your own homework, people. I’m sick of this.
What does he need a $3.6 million jet for? Do you like Joel Osteen too?
Every “good” preacher needs a 3.6 million dollar jet.
$3.6M would help a lot of his flock but hey, we wouldn’t want the good preacher to have to fly in coach would we?
Having a jet makes on a scumbag? How about everybody ride horses and mules.
No, he’s not a scumbag because he has a jet. Quite the opposite.
Not liking obama shows that he is an intelligent and decent individual.
Dallas News
Ex-employees: Copeland ministry followers being misled
12:07 PM CST on Thursday, November 8, 2007
Days after the announcement of a congressional investigation into the finances of Fort Worth televangelists Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, former ministry insiders say that Mr. Copeland’s faithful followers are being misled.
WFAA-TV (Ch.8) first reported on the private use of the Copeland ministry’s $20 million jet, trips made to a ski resort and exotic game hunting ranch.
But the real turbulence for Mr. Copeland’s ministry may come from within the gates of his Eagle Mountain Church and Ministry Headquarters north of Fort Worth.
Former employees told WFAA-TV that the Copelands one sees on television are not the same Copelands in real life.
Four former Copeland ministry employees said they were disappointed after seeing how the ministry operates.
Jeff Spradlin said he grew up admiring the Copelands and was excited to work for them. “Within 90 days, I started realizing this was a huge mistake,” he said......
Former employees also said that when the Copelands weren’t on the road, they spent their days inside their 18,000-square-foot parsonage on the shores of Eagle Mountain Lake, surrounded by hundreds of acres of range and ranch land not far from their tennis courts and boat house.
Yeah, this guy NEEDS his mansions and expensive jet, I mean...after all, look at how not having a jet hurt Jesus, James, Peter and Paul!
They’d have really accomplished some things if they had been millionaires!
Ed
Opulence is unbefitting an evangelist, pastor, priest, bishop, patriarch, or pope.
Period.
That said, the tax-exempt status of anything is entirely premised on the perversion known as our income tax system.
Under the sales tax system I envision, once you buy something and pay the sales tax, it’s your property free and clear. If you don’t want to pay tax on it, then don’t buy it.
Individual, business, organization....I don’t care. All treated the same. Buy it and you pay the tax.
No. Do you have any other questions?
Hummm....he must have bought a newer one and thats why they’re getting after him because that registration number for this plane comes up as a 1969 Grumman Gulfstream....not exactly a new plane by any means. It also shows that its current owner is Sano Aviation Corp out of Lauderhill, FL. Previous owner was probably the Copeland’s church.
He is a scumbag because he perverts the Word of God for his own personal gain and leads many souls astray, into covetousness, and a false “prosperity gospel”.
Those who abuse the tax exempt status for churches to build huge, tax free, personal financial empires put the exemption for legitimate churches at risk.
I do not know much about Kenneth Copeland, any care to fill me in on him?
Another Binny Hinn? Or what?
Bro Ken is an earier version of the name it and claim it crowd. He got his training at ORU then apprenticed with Kenneth Hagin. Bennine henny is a johnny come lately when compared with Copeland.
oops...earier should be earlier.
I tryed to tell the TX politicians that.They just laughed at me.
This way even the illegals and so fourth pay a little for the schools they use.
Actually it is: How would you like to own you own business or NON=Profit (and then be told you had to fork over to the Gov, some idiot bureaucrat what you paid YOUR employees).
Actually it is: How would you like to own you own business or NON=Profit (and then be told you had to fork over to the Gov, some idiot bureaucrat what you paid YOUR employees).
You say Copeland has done alot of good, maybe so, that's for God to judge. I do know that spending millions of other peoples money for jets, houses, tennis courts and the like is as far removed from Chrtist teaching for a minister as you can get.
That is the truth.
The rules are different for for-profit businesses and non-profits. If you want the advantage of non-proft, you have to comply with the rules.
And, of course, non-profit does not necessarily mean the same thing as tax exempt.
So, if you want to set up a non-profit corporation in Texas,
"(5) "Nonprofit corporation" means a corporation no part of the income of which is distributable to a member, director, or officer of the corporation."
And the issue here is compensation to the directors:
"the jet was denied tax exemption because the ministry failed to disclose salaries of directors "
Statutory cite to Texas BOC Sec 22.001
Exactly. A no exemption sales tax and everyone pays for what they buy.
A donation is not a purchase, but as soon as anyone buys something with they donation, then they pay a tax of ___%.
>>Isn’t this a violation of the ministrys’ 1st Amendment Protections?<<
Not that I am aware of. Do you think it is a violation of your 1st amendment protections to state your income on a 1040 form?
I think it is very healthy for these organizations to post the directors salaries.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but WWJD?
A president-elect who won’t produce his birth certificate gives me pause. A candidate who claims to be a war hero but won’t sign a form 180 gives me pause. An evangelist who refuses to state his income gives me pause.
Sometimes peoples actions speak so loudly you cannot hear what they are saying.
I do not have a problem with him having a jet. That simple fact is not the point. His refusing to state his directors income is a problem for me, however.
The jet may be a problem, but his ownership of it does not make it so any more than owning a gun makes someone a bad person.
I refuse to judge men. I will judge actions though. Copeland is a sinner like all of us. Regarding the opulence, I do have a problem with it but not being a follower of his, and not knowing much about him, I can’t go beyond that. His refusal to state incomes is just as perplexing as Obama’s refusal to show a birth certificate though.
What is he trying to hide?
>>I do know that spending millions of other peoples money for jets, houses, tennis courts and the like is as far removed from Chrtist teaching for a minister as you can get. <<
Well said. I’ve said that I will not judge other men. However I will make a decision whose teaching to support and follow based partly on their actions. I would not follow nor support the teachings of any man who did the above.
HAHAHA
I was going to link to that song! In their live concert Phil even says they are not all bad, but for those who are “questionable”, well, this song’s for them.
True.
I don’t know much about Copeland. All I know is that when I saw him on television recently, he came across as very weird - almost deranged. Sorry if I offend anyone, but sometimes these people just strike me as so insincere. “False prophets” goes through my mind.
Why does a televangelist need a jet? He can fly coach like other people. He sets his own schedule and can book his flights ahead of time.
I also have to say that I have a little problem with all of Joyce Meyer’s clothes. I don’t care that she donates them. I would never give to her because I would be helping purchase those clothes in the first place.
I feel that when you are in a position like that, you go out of your way to set a good example. Extravagence is not a good example.
Yep, but I can’t do much about it!
WWJD? Probably make sure they are honest (however it’s not the government’s role (unless they’re actually acused in a court of law of violating someone else’s property).
That could be done with an independent private companies’ audit rather than un-elected bureaucrats poking around in someone else’s business that is not theirs!
Refrain from donating, so your vision will remain unobstructed. These types conveniently fail to mention that the "seed" you purchase/plant from them is spiritual kudzu.
This false teaching has done a lot of harm. For some people, their only exposure to so-called Christianity is flipping through the channels and seeing a false preacher with his greedy hands out, promising that he has a special line to God if only you will give the preacher money, NOW! And the name it and claim it religion is a cruel religion - it tells people with cancer or whatever that they are being punished because they don't have enough faith. The filthy vultures.
>>That could be done with an independent private companies’ audit rather than un-elected bureaucrats poking around in someone else’s business that is not theirs!<<
Nothing need be disclosed. Unless he wants the tax exempt status, that is.
For me, this isn’t about the bureaucrat. It is about the seeming unwillingness to disclose the incomes. That is odd.
Well if you are hiring illegals and paying them cash off the books, I can see why you would have an objection.
A good man who buys a jet when he could feed a small village with that money. The shepherd of a flock does not need a jet.
Wow. You can really get rich pushing Cheap Grace. I was a fool for studying Accounting.
FYI, Copeland also has a Texas ranch with hundreds of acres full of horses.
Back in the late 80s or early 90s, the IRS sent warning letters to 501(c) organizations, telling them that Congress was looking into legislation that would make the rules WRT contributions more stringent.
The IRS explained that under current laws, if the contributor received anything of value in return for their contribution, the non-profit org had to give a receipt that separated the contribution from the fair market value (FMV) of whatever the contributor received.
So, if they ordered a book from the organization for $25, the book might have a FMV of $15, so the deductible contribution was only $10. If they held a benefit concert and the tickets were $50 each, the FMV of those tickets might be $35, so the deductible contribution was only $15.
Some of those organizations are still ignoring that warning. Is Copeland one of those?
“Let those evil plane haters come OUT!!!!”
Didn’t say ANYTHING about illigals, did I?
(btw: I agree with you about them though)!
To fly around and play golf with GM executives, or other evangelists.
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