The assembly halls are a bigger scam. They remodel them needlessly and the congregations have no choice but to pay the bills. It is not really a voluntary donation arrangement any more. They state how much a cong. owes at an assembly (always an unbelievable amount) and then charege each cong. for any "deficit" from the use of the assembly hall. How is that in any way "voluntary"?
They shut down a cong. locally and reassigned the people to halls where they had to drive 45 min. one way. To drive 1.5 hrs. 3-5 times a week is pretty expensive with the high price of gas. Many of those people were elderly and infirm, but that was not taken into consideration.