Posted on 06/26/2018 6:50:45 AM PDT by GIdget2004
Religious leaders are slamming the new GOP tax law after the measure required them to start paying a tax on some of the fringe benefits religious institutions offer to employees.
Politico reported Tuesday that the new tax law requires the groups to start paying a 21 percent tax on some of the benefits, including those for transportation, meals and potentially gym memberships.
Republicans eliminated tax breaks for employees' fringe benefits in the law to cover the cost of tax cuts for corporations and individuals. Because nonprofits dont pay income taxes, lawmakers implemented a tax on the organization's fringe benefits.
Religious institutions, which are exempt from taxes, told the outlet that the measure is a major burden and will force them to work with the IRS for the first time. The report noted that many of the faith-based groups remain unaware of the new tax.
Theres going to be huge headaches, Galen Carey, the vice president of government relations at the National Association of Evangelicals, told Politico. The cost of compliance, especially for churches that have small staffs or maybe volunteer accountants and bookkeepers we dont need this kind of hassle.
And an official for the Jewish Federations of North America told the publication that the group would pay $75,000 in taxes this year as a result of the new law.
A lot of people are just finding out about it and the more people find out about it, the more pressure there will be on Treasury and Congress to either delay implementation or consider changing this, said Steven Woolf, senior tax policy counsel for the group.
House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) defended the provision, with a spokesman telling The Hill that it simplifies the tax code for worker compensation.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
If it has nothing to do with worship, it is taxable
Source article
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/26/republican-tax-law-churches-employees-670362
As far as I am concerned ALL religious establishment should never have been tax exempt since the constitution allows for freedom of religion not SUBSIDIZED religion.
And today pretty much every church and equivalent is extremely political.
This is a tiny loophole that has been closed.
Render under Cesar, folks.
That would have ensured that only large churches would exist. You could have taxed others out of existence.
The pastor at my mother’s church is a wealthy man because of the fringe benefits that the church gives him. I have zero sympathy with the churches on this one.
Why are the religious organizations paying this tax? Most fringe benefits are taxable for the EMPLOYEE, not the employer.
Find ANY group of self labelled “religious” and you can find a racist or homosexual-promoting socialist “preacher” who hates the Trump tax cuts.
Pure agi-prop from The Hill, politico editors for their democrats before the mid terms. They are writing this to split Trump from the evangelicals.
religious groups sold their soul when they chose to abide by tax free status. I don’t see how it’s honoring God to really letting God be in control of their org/church etc, when they submit to governmental gudielines just to maintain tax free status.
I think all non and not for profit status should be done away with because mostly the leaders benefit along with whatever good works they do, otherwise they could not continue to operate if the leaders didn’t benefit enough.
yup!
>>That would have ensured that only large churches would exist. You could have taxed others out of existence.<<
Maybe, maybe not. Churches exist in a marketplace. I their message is compelling then their parishioners will provide.
If a church does ONLY charitable works then they can file as a charitable organization accordingly.
I don’t think churches deserve any special attention and the USC certainly does not provide it.
Multi billion enterprise whining about $75,000 in taxes?
How much did their taxes go down due to the tax cut?
https://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/special-report-what-jewish-federations-do-your-money
The prior law gave some pretty significant tax breaks for ministers. A big one was deductions for housing costs. A church board could stipulate a certain dollar amount of their salary to be considered a housing allowance. The amount could often be twice the actual cost of housing. A partial reason for it was that ministers often host congregants in their homes for church-related activities.
Sorry, I don’t even know what those are.
Eliminate all the exemptions entirely.
Alternately, small churches where the pastor has a day job, and preaches out of his living room, would have no income, and thus no taxes.
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