JeffT

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Posts by JeffT

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  15

  Does Tithing at Church Count as a Charitable Donation?

  by OrphanCrow in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  it has been interesting to see the shift in financial strategies that the wts is implementing recently.

  from reading recent threads, it appears like 'they' are adopting a tithing donation system, similar to what is practised in "those wicked churches of christendoom".

  i am curious as to who it is that stands to benefit the most tax wise in this recent shift.

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  JeffT

  Although not an income tax expert, I am an accountant, and have dealt with other tax issues.

  Generally, anything you give a charity counts is a tax deductible contribution. The church is not obligated to give out receipts, it is the obligation of the giver to keep track of the donations and have available proof of the donation. Unless they have good reason not to accept it, the IRS will treat any written record as proof, in other words a handwritten notation on a calendar that you gave $15 last Sunday will do.

  Interesting sidebar: those green handshakes to the CO are not deductible by the giver and ARE taxable income to the recipient. Of course, who's going to prove that?
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  38

  Types and anti types

  by Deltawave in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  according the watchtower study of may 10th, it has been made clear no prophetic meaning should be given to a a scripture or passage unless the bible itself gives clear interpretation of it.

  therefore daniel 7 especially gives it's fulfillment to nebuchadnezzar only.

  no future kingdom or 2520year wait til 1914. no gentile times or "this generation".

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  JeffT

  I just put a new post about this on my blog, "The Governing Body Saws Off the Branch It's Sitting On."

  http://pathologicallyintellectual.blogspot.com/
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  16

  WT cash flow speculation

  by campaign of hate in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so it was reported that the wt made $60,000,000 in canada last year (?).

  working on the assumption that this figure is from not only donations, but from property revenues and other ventures from the branch, we get a figure of $528 per publisher, per year.

  the calculation: 60,000,000 / 113,617 (2014 av pubs) = $528 a year per publisher.

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  JeffT

  Maybe they're anticipating loss of tax-exempt status.

  Extremely unlikely. The IRS has made it clear that they don't want to be in the business of deciding what is an exempt religion. They have been very tolerant of churches that engage in political activity. I think they'd go after those before they tried to revoke the WTBS' status.

  As I've said, if they sell off a bunch of kingdom halls and invest the money, they could be set financially forever.

  I agree with John Aquila, they're doing something else with the money. I'm going to put my accountant hat back on and see what I can think of.
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  16

  WT cash flow speculation

  by campaign of hate in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so it was reported that the wt made $60,000,000 in canada last year (?).

  working on the assumption that this figure is from not only donations, but from property revenues and other ventures from the branch, we get a figure of $528 per publisher, per year.

  the calculation: 60,000,000 / 113,617 (2014 av pubs) = $528 a year per publisher.

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  JeffT

  Your $100K is low. I did some research awhile back, the Halls I could find records for on line were valued at 200-400K. I estimated that their holdings in Kingdom Halls alone are worth one to two billion dollars.

  They've sold a ton of real estate in NYC over the last few years, producing something close to a billion dollars. Properly invested that alone should produce about four million dollars a month in income.

  As noted above, their expenses are minimal. I can't see why they would have a cash flow problem.
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  7

  Freedom of speech can only guarantee an audience of one

  by Brokeback Watchtower in

  1. social
  2. family

  in my house i feel that freedom of speech is important but it can only guarantee an audience of one.

  i know women need to vent and i try to give them as much space as possible without interjecting any judgement on the validity of what is been vented in other words i give space for these events as best i could and try to listen with an open mind because there truely is a message there some where but i admit i'm a dense male to the female of our species.

  but i tend to shy away from over venting and cringe at being subjected to them and so while a person has the right to free speech in my house they don't have the right to an audience of more than one.

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  JeffT

  In my opinion, free speech doesn't come with any audience (unless you count talking to yourself). Anybody is free to say anything, and all the rest of us are free to ignore it if we want to.
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  48

  Evidence based folks: what is your stance on GMO's and why?

  by cappytan in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so, the anti-gmo movement scored another victory today.

  chipotle has opted to only use non-gmo food items.. hooray for them.

  i'm pretty neutral on the subject, mostly because, other than questionable treatment of farmers, i have seen no evidence to avoid gmo's for health reasons.. basically, my neutrality boils down to the stance that i'll buy non-gmo, so long as the price is reasonable.

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  JeffT

  What Frank said.

  I have a son and daughter in law both working toward advanced degrees in environmental science, we've talked about this a lot. The real complaint against GMO's is not that they are dangerous to eat (as Viv pointed out, they aren't). What we don't know is how they will effect the environment, and the plants around them.

  If we could insure careful handling, and move slowly in allowing them, I'm OK with it. But we need to be careful and study the problems as we go.
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  17

  The Watchtower's cash flow problems and financial solvency with lawsuits payouts

  by Brokeback Watchtower in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  i think with all this change we see occurring with the watchtower corporation's to deal with things means they are in financial trouble and are seeking to consolidate their real estate holdings for easy sale if needed to stay financially solvent.. they will stop or slowly decrease the door to door work and focus on the material potential of each member young and old for what ever they can get out of them.

  this will lead to more leaving under their tyranny.

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  JeffT

  The proceeds of the NYC real estate sale could be expected to produce about $40 million a year if invested carefully. The current financial strategy seems to be sell old properties, transfer the money to HQ, and build the replacement with new donations. I don't think they're going to run out of money anytime soon.
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  38

  Things I trust more than the Jehovah's Witnesses Governing Body

  by OnTheWayOut in

  1. social
  2. humour

  i stole this, from of all places, rick fearon.

  i don't know who he stole it from.

  please think of more.. things i trust more than the jehovah's witnesses governing body+ the media+ mexican tap water+ cappuccino from bill cosby+ a bigfoot sighting+ a politician who says "trust me"+ an al qaeda who wants flying lessons, but skips landing and take-offs+ a hillary clinton war story+ bill clinton wanting to give a speech at an all-female school+ gas station sushi+ a brian williams or bill o'rielly news report+ email from a nigerian prince.

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  JeffT

  Something I trust less than the GB, a three dollar bill.

  Disagree, I'd paste a picture of a politician I don't like on it and frame it. That's still more useful than the GB.
• 
  38

  Things I trust more than the Jehovah's Witnesses Governing Body

  by OnTheWayOut in

  1. social
  2. humour

  i stole this, from of all places, rick fearon.

  i don't know who he stole it from.

  please think of more.. things i trust more than the jehovah's witnesses governing body+ the media+ mexican tap water+ cappuccino from bill cosby+ a bigfoot sighting+ a politician who says "trust me"+ an al qaeda who wants flying lessons, but skips landing and take-offs+ a hillary clinton war story+ bill clinton wanting to give a speech at an all-female school+ gas station sushi+ a brian williams or bill o'rielly news report+ email from a nigerian prince.

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  JeffT

  I'm trying to think of something I trust LESS than the GB. So far I'm coming up empty.
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  8

  Hypothetical RE: Gay Marriage

  by DarioKehl in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the setup:.

  the supreme court rules in favor of gay marriage across the board, regardless of state constitutions in the next few weeks.. a gay couple get happily married.

  several months go by and one of them is contacted at the door by jws.

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  JeffT

  We may all need to get some popcorn and watch this one over the next few years. I bet there will be a BOE letter out some time in the next couple of years addressing these issues. I would anticipate a bunch of mealy-mouthed nonsense trying to cover everything from all sides. It will be written by lawyers and written in a way that makes it clear to the elders that gay marriage isn't marriage so it doesn't make any difference what the government says. I'm guessing they will use this to make gay couples dissolve the relationship, they will be free to enter into a heterosexual marriage after that, maybe even have privileges; after all at that point they'll be a shinning example of how Jehovah fixes everything.

  If there's a legal blowup, like a lawsuit over something; it will all be the fault of the local elders.

  Edited to add: I don't know how a GLBTQ* person with the brains God gave gravel could sit five minutes in Kingdom Hall.