I don't see where taxation has anything to do with the separation of church and state. The Churches have no problem interfering with and pushing for changes in the government, so why should the governments hands be tied as to making the churches pay property taxes? We the people have to pay for the churches use of public services. We are not preventing the churches right to their worship only their freeloading on the public to do it. Maverick
Forced taxation of branch overseer in Sweden ............
by TheOldHippie 23 Replies latest watchtower scandals
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Tord
This was a joke of the 1 april in sweden, at an ex. JW forum.!
Best reagards
Tord - Stockholm
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ball.
Anyway, this might be a joke, but doesn't tax make you sick. You get taxed on your income then you get taxed again when you spend it, and even if you save it in the mean time, you get taxed on the interest as well.
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Euphemism
I wouldn't quite put it the way that Maverick does, but I do agree that taxing religion would not necessarily be a violation of the separation of church and state.
In fact, the government is able to tax organizations that claim to be religious, if it is determined that they are actually businesses; that's why the IRS conducted a pretty length investigation into Scientology.
However, if the government were to distinguish between denominations purely on religious grounds--e.g. giving favorable tax treatment to Christians but not to Muslims, or to Catholics but not to Protestants--that would certainly violate the Establishment Clause.