Hague court stops tax free status for Scientologists

by GoneAwol 8 Replies latest social current

• 

  GoneAwol

  http://www.nltimes.nl/2015/10/22/hague-court-deals-blow-to-scientology-tax-free-status/

  From the article -"The Dutch branch of the Church of Scientology has lost its tax status as “public welfare institution”, and the tax benefits that go along with it, in a ruling made by the court in The Hague on Wednesday.

  The court decided that the sales of the Church’s expensive courses and therapy sessions are clearly aimed at making a profit, and thus it does not belong on the tax authorities’ charity list."

  Lets hope this gets the ball rolling against whacko religions..
• 

  OneEyedJoe

  Hopefully...but something tells me any change that this creates will be only for groups that charge for services like the scientologists. Since JWs make all their cash off "voluntary" donations, I doubt it'll extend to them.

  But in the end all churches are businesses...they should all have to pay taxes. Or, at the very least, only money that actually gets spent in real charity (not including attempts to recruit) should be tax exempt.
• 

  Simon

  But in the end all churches are businesses...they should all have to pay taxes.

  To be fair, some do charitable works. I agree with the pope on this - only the operations doing charitable activities should enjoy tax free status.

  First domino fallen.

  BTW: Watch for Tom Cruise suddenly churning out movies ...
• 

  ABibleStudent

  GoneAwol -Lets hope this gets the ball rolling against whacko religions..

  If you really want to stop child sexual abuse and stop dangerous organizations, sign the http://wh.gov/iPVIe petition by 12 Nov 2015 and like the Facebook page www.facebook.com/WhiteHousePetition .

  Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

  Robert
• 

  cofty

  Good news, thanks for posting the story
• 

  TheListener

  I agree that any church money or property not directly used for charitable works should be taxed. That would include taxing support staff office buildings and complexes.
• 

  macys

  Gawd it would be awesome if they took away the status of the Jdub WT cult! I am taking classes in finance right now and we are learning about the tax code. A lot of these churches claim to be exempt through small tax loops in the law. The JDub cult should never be allowed tax exempt status for the basis that they do zero charity work. Their charity work is only for insiders and sometimes when they see a good opportunity for a news bite for publicity they will do it. Maybe someone can look into getting them off the tax exempt list?
  
• 

  Sofia Lose

  I look forward to the day here in the USA when ALL so called religious institutions lose their tax exempt status.

  SL
• 

  DesirousOfChange

  I look forward to the day here in the USA when ALL so called religious institutions lose their tax exempt status.

  The US is over $18TRILLION in debt.

  (To give you some perspective: If you spend $1.00 every second of every minute of every hour without sleep it would take you:

  to spend $1 MILLION -- 12 days

  to spend $1 BILLION -- 32 years

  to spend $1TRILLION -- 32,000 years

  Politicians are going to be looking for every source of taxation to bring in more revenue.

  Doc