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The Forum > Article Comments > Defence of religious tax free status flawed > Comments

Defence of religious tax free status flawed : Comments

By Max Wallace, published 15/11/2016

The issue is that the University of Sydney is a secular organization. The Uniting Church is a religious one. Australia is in principle a democracy not a theocracy.

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In partial answer to Jon R, here are a few obligations that churches avoid. Others might care to add to the list - it would be a long one.

First, and for many reasons, each entity claiming religious purpose should be required to be incorporated under Australian laws and to keep proper accounts and records and to comply with standards of governance as apply to every other corporate entity in the country.

Second, I agree that a good argument can be made on social welfare grounds for tax exemptions for certain bodies. I propose that exemptions of this type be available only to record-keeping, auditable entities which provide annual returns to relevant authorities, chief of which is the ACNC - The Australian Charities and Not-For-Profits Commission. All other and non-complying bodies should be made responsible for taxation of various classes, whether religious or non-religious.

Somebody raised an argument along the lines of "income tax has already been paid by parishioners, so their donations to their church should not be taxed again". What crap this is! I use tax-paid money that to purchase bread, milk, my home, my car and my entertainment, my clothes and indeed everything I spend it on except for registered charities and then only for certain defined purposes. My suppliers again pay tax on their business profits and on many of their business expenses. So what? This is a non-argument.

Consider also tax in the form of land tax, council rates and related. There are plenty of ugly church buildings which deserve no public funding on social or aesthetic grounds. Blanket exemptions are entirely unjustified.
Posted by JohnBennetts, Thursday, 17 November 2016 9:37:45 AM
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If we're talking about income tax, local churches typically spend everything they earn. As such, even if they were considered taxable entities, they would have zero taxable income and pay zero income tax.

So as far as income tax is concerned, the whole argument is pointless.
Posted by Trav, Friday, 18 November 2016 8:59:39 AM
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Trav,

The issue is also whether the donations to the church, greens etc should be tax free.
Posted by Shadow Minister, Sunday, 20 November 2016 5:12:53 PM
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Trav's attempt to steer this discussion towards only the local church is irrelevant.

Churches of all styles have amassed a very substantial percentage of this nation's treasure and daily open new commercial ventures in the forms of health, housing, religious, land speculation, property development, welfare, investment and employment ventures, far removed from the Sunday plate or a tithe.

To pretend that "local churches" are the subject of this discussion is either mischievous at best or an attempt at fraudulent and misleading conduct at worst. Suburban churches are merely the local offices of some very large and profitable capitalist ventures; very small tips of very large icebergs.

Of course churches,as members of Australian society, should be required to incorporate, register, provide financial records and pay their share of tax.

Besides which, even the claim that local churches are poor, if made, would be nonsense because their financial situation is shielded from any form of public scrutiny or regulatory accounting.

Only a fool would believe that churches do not attract pigs to the trough, in like manner that churches have been demonstrated by any number of enquiries in recent years to have harboured organised rings of paedophiles.

Churches!

Can't trust them with our kids or our money.
Posted by JohnBennetts, Sunday, 20 November 2016 5:40:59 PM
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