by Phoebe 49 Replies latest jw friends
The Governing Body claims it hides nothing. It is not a secretive organization. Unfortunately the internet has exposed their lies and deceit.
Any JW that is truly humble, hungry & honest (3 h's) will see the hypocrisy and deceit of the Governing Body.
krismalone: I think that Watchtower has hidden a lot but this is not one of those cases. The brief is public record and can be read by anyone. Just because they don't advertise it doesn't mean that they are hiding that fact. Tons of people and organizations will make something public and don't advertise it.
Phoebe: You should read the brief yourself and see what it actually says. The basic idea that Watchtower was trying to say was that there is no difference between providing a message that is spoken and a message that is printed on a piece of paper. So if you are cannot tax the donations given in a religious building during a religious sermon than you shouldn't be able to tax a religious sermon that is printed on the page and is given to someone.
In the brief Watchtower repeatedly stated that they did not take sides with either party in the case but wanted to present how taxation would affect them and their adherants. it only brought up Mr Swaggert's Ministries once at the end to discuss the State Supreme Court's decision and barely mentioned the ministry at all.
But again you should read the brief yourself it shouldn't take more than 20 minutes to get it through. You can also read the full Supreme Court Decision and see what the Supreme Court actually ruled in the Swaggert part of the case.
As a side note, I am not sure if they would have been correct or not, but Watchtower would not have paid this tax but each individual JW would pay the tax from the donation. That would mean that each individual JW would have to register with the state board and any local agencies if a county or city also wanted to tax the literature. So each JW would have had to file a quarterly tax return and send in the money that way.
@John Davis
"As a side note, I am not sure if they would have been correct or not, but Watchtower would not have paid this tax but each individual JW would pay the tax from the donation. That would mean that each individual JW would have to register with the state board and any local agencies if a county or city also wanted to tax the literature. So each JW would have had to file a quarterly tax return and send "
NON SENSE
I collect the sales tax from all my customers. They don't have to register. I do. I pay that sales tax that I collect directly from my checking account.
Similarly the final collector of the money paid for the Watchtower merchandise is the Watchtower. They have to pay tax.
The dishonesty comes from trying to tell rank and file that they (Watchtower) decided to voluntarily give away the literature. They were forced to NO SELL. Same thing with the case in Mexico. They refused to register as a religion because it was not a financially convenient move. They wanted to own real estate. Rank and file never knew this and never will, unless they learn the truth about the truth
never a JW. That is why I said that I am not sure if that was correct or not but that was the argument. But I can actually kind of see the possibility of it being true. it would be who is selling the literature, the Watchtower through an agent or would the retailer be the individual JW. That question would be answered through another lawsuit since it wouldn't have been answered in the Supreme Court case as the Swaggert Ministry's doesn't have individual ministers who were collecting money.
Lmao at Jehovah's Witnesses aligning themselves as an organization in a way that could even give the appearance of impropriety regarding supporting him. They counsel against doing that all the time. They are hypocrites with much more than a rafter in their eye, they have the whole forest, despite attempts at obfuscation put out by their supporters.
NONSENSE: I collect the sales tax from all my customers. They don't have to register. I do. I pay that sales tax that I collect directly from my checking account.
But isn't that the whole point? the same principle would apply to individual JWs and THEIR customers.
I think that it was the WT-JW relationship / concept that the WT did not want to be formalized - the WT wanted:
The individual JW are selling to THEIR own customers - ie the householder
The individual JW are NOT agents of the WT (the WT is very clear about this regarding liability)
Thus, just like YOU collecting sales tax from your customers and paying, the individual JWs would collect sales tax and pay it.
If the JW where acting on behalf of the WT, like being agents, then the WT would pay - but the WT does not want that liability.
Also, it is important to know that it was a question of use tax which in California is like sales tax, so the tax would actually be paid by the customer not by the merchant if it was a business or an income tax than it would be paid by the merchant. So in the case of California now instead of 25 cents per magazine, it would be 0.25cents plus 9.25 or a little more depending on the county for the price and the price would be charged to the consumer.
"it would be who is selling the literature, the Watchtower through an agent or would the retailer be the individual JW"
Let's not play stupid or ignorant. We know who ultimately keeps and manages the money. You are suggesting that the individual JW, after being exploited, still may have to register and file sales tax returns. The Chutzpa!!! Haven't they gone through enough??
The sales tax is always paid by the final user, never a merchant. The merchant, however, in order to be able to sell, is obligated to collect the sales tax from the sales tax payer and pass it to the government. The Watchtower gets all the money. The Watchtower must pay.
@ Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho
No worries, that was a good video, too. I watch loads, too. I think I'm sort of addicted to watching them!
@WHATSGOINGON
So true. I think most bros were totally hoodwinked by that whole 'donation' thing. Even the other day I actually said to my friend that if these are supposed to be God's people he will bring the child abuse thing out into the open and fix it, just like he did when they were peddling the word and making a shed load of money from the literature. (Oh, what a stupid thing for me to say!!!)
No point in me trying to tell her about this. She only started to believe me about the child abuse problem when she saw it on the BBC. Seems in the UK if it's on the BBC..then people will believe it.
I collect the sales tax from all my customers. They don't have to register. I do. I pay that sales tax that I collect directly from my checking account.
The sales tax is always paid by the final user, never a merchant. The merchant, however, in order to be able to sell, is obligated to collect the sales tax from the sales tax payer and pass it to the government.
The JWs position in the sales chain would be the same as you? And you are registered?
Is there a minimum amount required before you need to register as a 'merchant'? It would strike me that the individual JWs would each be below such a threshold due to the low-valve of sales anyway.
