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The Nome City Council is moving forward with a plan to end tax exemptions for 40 local nonprofits, churches and other charities in the Seward Peninsula city.
With the city budget projected to run a deficit, the council spent a one-hour work session Monday looking at ways to increase tax revenue. After much debate, the council agreed to move forward with a draft ordinance removing sales tax exemptions from nonprofits and churches.
City Finance Director Julie Liew estimates the move could bring in about $300,000 a year. Nome is a regional hub city of about 3,800 people.
If the city council decides to go with this plan they still have to get public feedback first, and there will be several more meetings before it is adopted. However if it is adopted I do believe it would make this small Alaska town the first to tax churches in their communities.
If this idea catches on there is no telling how far it could spread, or how much money it might brig in.
On that last point we actually do have some idea.
P.S. Since we're talking about Nome, Alaska did you know it got its name due to a clerical error?
I'll bet that Jerry Prevo or Jim Minnery travel to Nome to try and defeat this measure.
ReplyDeleteThese parasite pastors have been living tax free on the hard work of their church people for centuries, and won't give up sucking the tit of lazy life without a big fight
I hope to see this change in my lifetime. If not, less religious Millennials will certainly have no problem taxing churches when it is their turn to be in charge. It is past time for churches to "render unto Ceasar..."
ReplyDeleteMaybe there is a way to market this, as an investment in the community, community outreach, serving the greater good, etc, Then let's see churches be against that.
ReplyDeleteAbout time. Tax exemptions are why we get so many
ReplyDeleteevangelical grifters in this country. Also, so many churches are political. I frankly don't give a damn if they are liberal or conservative. Telling people who to vote for or preaching politics from the pulpit destroys the exemption. Everything the founders feared has come to pass. Republican legislatures are giving people religious tests.
Tax their asses. Churches use the infrastructure and power grids. They need to give it up.
Well said angela. I agree, tax the shit out of them. The majority of these so called christians are bad to the bone and nothing more than money/power sucking leeches. This madness needs to end. NOW!
DeleteYou know, such a development might be a positive boon for atheism given that so many right-wing Christo-fascists are so vehemently anti-taxation. I hope the Vatican catches wind of this and that the practical implications of this maneuver captivates the sensibilities of the pope.
ReplyDeleteChurches across the nation should not be exempt from paying taxes!
ReplyDeleteI think if it were put to a vote across the land they would lose their exemption status.
Hmmm, taxes on ostentatious church buildings, yes. Taxes on preachers/ministers/priest/imams /rabbis homes - yes. Taxes on the goods bought for the food pantry or the domestic violence shelter building. There are some churches and many NPO's that really do good in the community - how to sort those from the grifters is the question.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't matter if they do good or not they shouldn't be tax exempt, period. All charities should be taxed as well.
DeleteIt's a manipulation of the income tax laws that many folks use. Churches and charity organizations should not enjoy the tax exemption status they currently do!
ReplyDeleteWhat pisses me off to no end are the churchgoers who excuse this bullshit with "The Church does a lot of pro bono work to help the sick, needy, poor and they make life easier for suffering people"
ReplyDeleteI never passed a church where the bishop or those higher up don't drive a non luxury car, yet the lots are full of people in hyundais and mini vans. What are the taxes on a tricked out Caddy? And wouldn't a Hyundai get them from point a to point b just the same?
And the Catholic School Teachers I've spoken to are stuck buying school supplies, just like the public school teachers, because it "isn't in their budget". How and When did this exemption start and why?
I'm with you, Gryphen. They need to pay taxes just like the rest of us, to be an example to others what it means to do the right thing.
I'm wondering how dropping the sales tax exemption for churches and nonprofits could generate about $10,000 per person in tax revenue that typically amounts to less than 10% of the transaction value?
ReplyDelete