When I first started to read information that the WTS was a cult I could not figure out why. I really believed they had no money. Then I saw some financial records. (Check in The Best of... WTS Finances)
They don't pay taxes in most countries. In Canada and the US they are still classified as a religious non-profit which means they don't pay property tax, or taxes on any of the materials they buy to publish WT litterature, to feed and house everybody at the Bethels, for their transports and automobiles. They have a charitable tax number that they use when they buy anything that gives them an exemption on what they are buying.
I was stunned when I read the documents showing they supported Swaggart in court as "Friends of the Court" meaning they were on Swaggart's side when the government decided it wanted to tax the literature they sold. The WTS did not want to pay the tax.
For all the noise they make about taking sides with false religion, there they were in a court of law saying "We're on Swaggart's side because we don't want to pay either."
Then there was the property dodge in Mexico when the Mexican government owned all religious property. Bit deal. Right? JWs would have still been able to use the Kingdom Halls. They still would have been able to sing in them and pray in them. They would have been able to use their Bibles in preaching. But no. The WTS insisted that it alone owned the Kingdom Halls. So the brother in Mexico were classified as a cultural group so they could own the halls. But since they were a cultural group they couldn't pray there. or sing "hymns" there. Or bring their Bibles. And they couldn't use their Bibles when preaching. All so that the WTS could own a piece of property and deny they were a religion.
Why are they leaving Brooklyn. Personally I don't think it is totally a money issue. They had the property. The workers are free so all they had to do is feed them and they had the housing for them.
I do think the donation system has hurt them badly but perhaps not as badly as we would like to think. They are busy soliciting money from JWs so that when they die everything they own goes to the WTS. And JWs are doing it. Plus since most JWs think the WTS is just scraping by many give a lot of money every month.
The court cases might be an issue to when it comes to money. But remember this is a multi-billion dollars publishing company, They have money.
I think they are really leaving Brooklyn because they are scared. When 9/11 happened the JWs in Bethel were told to stand away from the windows. The gates were barred. They offered no help, not even water, to the thousands of people streaming in front of their door as they fled the area. Even JWs who came to the door had to prove they were JWs to get in.
Look where Brooklyn is. Within miles of the UN. That place that is supposed to be destroyed. The old guys at Bethel don't want to be that close to another 9/11. It scared the crap out of them. I said at the time that the WTS would move out and they are doing it.
AND they are making a mint out of it. They are fixing up those building, turning them into condos and selling them off
They are going out to their own private paradise they have built at Patterson. They don't have to wait until Armageddon. They don't have to wait until all the dead carcasses are cleaned up. They are living in it now. If you haven't seen pictures of Patterson check Stan Milosevic's website. (Stan is a JW)
