I really didn’t mean that you, as a pastor, did not pay taxes.
But maybe you can help me out. Does the church, its self, operate tax free?
Of course, there are many congregations that are small. But there are many, many churches with large congregations that have great wealth. It will be interesting to see if lawsuits are brought against a specific church/preacher or against the denomination. Sorry if I sound cynical...but at the end of the day it’s all about the benjamins.
If you are talking about paying taxes on donations to God, then you are correct that there is no ‘income’ tax on it. That is because it has become part of that church and their worship of God.
This is not, BTW, the ‘loss of tax free status’ that is meant when that expression is used. It has always been recognized that the government can’t make any laws about establishing a state religion or preventing entirely free exercise of religion. It’s always been a simple case: “If the government ‘charges’ religion, then it isn’t free.” In other words, if I give 100 dollars to God, religion free of government means all of that goes to God and none of that goes to government.
No, that is not what is meant by churches’ tax free status. Some bring up the idea of property tax, but the same thing applies. People gave money to God to build a church. The state can’t charge for that and still pretend it is ‘free’.
Think of this. Let’s say you have an estate of 2 million dollars. You have already paid all the taxes on that. You leave it to your child in your will, but the state comes and takes 50% of what you already had paid all the taxes on.
What is wrong with that in your opinion?