[All Religions were created by fallible men and carried out by fallible people that use religion to “prey” on the vulnerable. Religion in America and Republican Politics are “indivisible.” Personally, I reject all Religions, I do not follow any.

The Pastors, Preachers, Deacons, Reverends or by whatever name they use, they purchase mansions, fly in Private Jets and are driven in Limousines. Their corruption is humongous and if you don’t believe me, Google their names and you would be shocked.

Benny Hinn had an affair with Paula White and ended up in a bitter Divorce with his wife. Joel Osteen and his wife bought a 10 Million Dollar Mansion. The photos are just some of the people but as you would ascertain, they are protected by Republican Legislators hiding behind Religion. One can have a “Spiritual Relationship with God if you are a believer, however, you don’t need religion for that.] Sheriff Ali.

Matt Yglesias thinks we ought to start taxing churches. “Whichever faith you think is the one true faith, it’s undeniable that the majority of this church-spending is going to support false doctrines,” he notes. Even if you did direct the money toward the one true faith, it’d still be a bad idea, as “Upgrading a church’s physical plant doesn’t enhance the soul-saving capacity of its clergy.”

Regardless of whether you buy Yglesias’s logic, this raises an interesting question — exactly how much money are we talking about here? If, all of a sudden, churches, synagogues, mosques and the like lost their tax privileges, how much tax revenue would that generate?

Ryan T. Cragun, a sociologist at the University of Tampa, and two of his students, Stephanie Yeager and Desmond Vega, took it upon themselves to figure it out. They’re not exactly disinterested parties; their research appeared in Free Inquiry, a publication of the Council for Secular Humanism. But Cragun is a serious sociologist of religion and the data seems to check out. The full scale of subsidies religions get is pretty staggering:

When people donate to religious groups, it’s tax-deductible. Churches don’t pay property taxes on their land or buildings. When they buy stuff, they don’t pay sales taxes. When they sell stuff at a profit, they don’t pay capital gains tax. If they spend less than they take in, they don’t pay corporate income taxes. Priests, ministers, rabbis and the like get “parsonage exemptions” that let them deduct mortgage payments, rent and other living expenses when they’re doing their income taxes. They also are the only group allowed to opt out of Social Security taxes (and benefits).

Cragun et al estimate the total subsidy at $71 billion. That’s almost certainly a lowball, as they didn’t estimate the cost of a number of subsidies, like local income and property tax exemptions, the sales tax exemption, and — most importantly — the charitable deduction for religious given. Their estimate that religious groups own $600 billion in property is also probably low, since it leaves out property besides actual churches, mosques, etc. Written By: Dylan Matthews

Twitter @sheriffali

Continue to source article at washingtonpost.com

https://richarddawkins.net/2013/08/you-give-religions-more-than-82-5-billion-a-year/