“From the cathedral to concert sermons and even the cereal aisle – religious organisations are cashing in to the tune of billions of dollars … and they're not paying tax.”
I’m not a regular viewer of channel 9 and its programme ‘A Current Affair’, but I was interested in their story on how religions in Australia are “cashing in”, running businesses and not paying a cent in tax.
One example of this free loading is the well known Weetbix Company ‘Sanitarium’ which pocketed the Seventh Day Adventist Church a cool 300m tax free dollars last year. It may come as a shock to many that there are some 17,000 religious institutions in Australia with tax free status. These parasites are claiming tax emption form all tax, company tax, land tax, GST, payroll tax, income tax, FBT. Unlike the rest of us, you name it, if it’s a tax religions don’t pay it.
These free loaders, range from the suspect, Scientolgy, to the dodgy Hillsong and you can throw in the out and out loony brigade as well. Not to mention the “mainstream” mobs such as the Catholics and Anglicans, its well documented what those fellas get up to. All these religious with their tax except snouts in the trough. It’s time we put a stop to this outrageous situation and made these free loaders pay their fair share. After all its very much a secret what these religions are doing with these billions of dollars they are ripping off from the legitimate taxpayers. All they say is something vague such as the money is used to “do good works.” Yeah right.
I’m not just talking about “Christian” religions, all religions in Australia, when it comes to tax, are singing from the same hymn sheet.

I see u sticking to one of the favourite Green/Regressive dogmas Paul. No doubt you would like to see the public trough increased so that the social work many of the churches do for next to nothing will be funded by the tax payer so high paying ngo's with degrees in socialism can get plum jobs.

u totally ignore the fact that people giving to churches have already paid tax on their income. No Paul u are not just talking about 'Christian ' religion however thats where the Greens and yourself seem totally fixated. You fail to mention the billions wasted on the gw religion with no benefit at all for society. No doubt the martians told Bob Brown that this was ok.

The real 'parasites' as you put it Paul are the publicly funded propganda organisations that many of the Greens have a foothold in. Your Christophobia should be stated bluntly instead of hiding behind thinly veiled disguises. Just look at the mess the likes of your dogmas have created in Indigeneous communities since the sacrifical 'missionaries'were expelled. You must be very proud of that.

runner wrote
"since the sacrifical 'missionaries'were expelled."

What the same "missionaries" who enslaved, tortured and stole from indigenous peoples? The same "missionaries" that supported a government who saw aborigines as fauna? Who accepted, and then abused stolen indigenous children? Give me a break. A large part of the problems in indigenous communities is directly because of what your so called missionaries did.

Im not sure you understand the meaning of the word regressive runner. It is you happy clappers and you magical superfreind who are the regressive ones. Never once have you godbotherers ever supported advances in humanity. From Gallileo to the pill to abortion to marriage. Science, medicine, the environment you want to see it all returned to the dark ages and never progress further.

All religions should be treated the same as any other business/charity/not for profit. If they are running a business they should pay tax. If they are doing charitable works, not building more temples or paying their leaders millions, then fine they can be treated like any other charity.

Still expect to see all the faithful squeal like little fat piggies since with their declining membership and attendance without their tax free land and holdings they would be broke within a decade.
hmmm sounds good to me.

'Still expect to see all the faithful squeal like little fat piggies since with their declining membership and attendance without their tax free land and holdings they would be broke within a decade.
hmmm sounds good to me. '

such ignorance mikk. To think you accuse others of living in fairyland. Read the end of the book mate. The godless literally have no hope unless of course they turn from their pig headedness and recieve mercy from the Only One who can forgive them.

Paul, the answer is a transaction tax, a very small one,, on each and every financial transaction and make them exempt to no one.

I do share your concerns, often have done because while they may claim to be a not for profit organization, every thing they buy by way of property, which they do, is one less property available to others. Another contributor to the unaffordable housing situation for many.

They also have the advantage of protecting their perpetrators and fighting their legal battles TAX FREE, or at least with funds that many businesses need to pay their taxes.

I'm with you, time they pay their way as they are a money making business these days operating under the banner of a not for profit entity.

Flat Tax ! Full Stop ! Everyone pays the same rate, no more fiddling the numbers, a level playing field once & for all !

It seems a few minutes spent reading the St. Vincent De Paul Charter (Vinnies) would appease any reasonable concern held about a function vital to the lives of thousands.Much of what is distributed is donated and volunteer managed. Their satisfaction comes from helping their fellow citizens in their time of need.

ITS A MESSY story/but lets try to reveal some of this huge scam
10 Supreme Court Rulings
That Turned Corporations Into People
http://www.newsforage.com/2014/07/10-supreme-court-rulings-that-turned.html

Last week's Hobby Lobby ruling charted new legal territory by granting corporations the same religious rights as real people. The rationale behind the decision—that expanding constitutional rights to businesses is necessary to "protect the rights of people associated with the corporation"—is far from nov
RS's 17% Error Rate in Processing Amended Tax Returns Caused $2.1 Billion of Erroneous Tax Refunds
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2014/07/tigta-irss-17-error-rate-.html

The IRS received more than 4 million amended tax returns in Fiscal Year 2012. This audit was initiated because previous TIGTA audits have identified problems with IRS processes for verifying claims on amended tax returns. The objective of this review was to determine whether the IRS has controls in place to ensure that claims for refunds on amended tax returns are appropriate. ...
http://rinf.com/alt-news/uk-news/british-public-sector-workers-strike-poverty-pay/
TIGTA’s review of a statistical sample of 259 amended tax returns claiming tax refunds of $500 or more in Fiscal Year 2012 identified 44 (17 percent) tax returns for which the IRS issued potentially erroneous tax refunds totaling $103,270. Based on the sample results, TIGTA estimates the IRS may have issued more than $439 million in potentially erroneous tax refunds claimed on 187,421 amended returns in Fiscal Year 2012. As such, the IRS could issue more than $2.1 billion in potentially erroneous tax refunds claimed on amended tax returns over the next five years.
http://www.newsforage.com/2014/07/white-house-admits-prison-wont-solve.html

The reason there are so many errors by the IRS is that the tax code is very complicated, the result off too many loopholes passed for the very rich and because the whole system is intentionally obfuscated so that ordinary citizens cannot figure out that it is a scam.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/10958728/Australian-judge-says-incest-may-no-longer-be-a-taboo.html

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/2014/07/10/men-get-draft-notices-years-after-the-fact/Bgjk0abnmR2eAv5zBJT8BN/story.html

I'm with Individual. A flat rate of tax but charged on disbursements from bank accounts which every one and every entity is obliged to have. There could be exceptions based on account type. It is assumed that if you are paying out of a bank account you can afford to pay tax. The percentage would be very small but it would, among other things, eliminate the cost of the ATO.

Obviously you guys would prefer to pay tax on gifts you pay to the poor.
You do not believe in volunteerism or charity. You haven't mentioned the thousands of employees Sanitarium employ who pay taxes. My wife's daughter is a contractor to sanitarium and she pays taxes in the highest bracket.
You are a lot of mean hearted selfish uncharitable agnostics, who have no idea how Sanitarium might use their profits in third world development.

Josephus,
With a flat tax everyone pays the same rate, there's no more fair & level playing field than flat tax.
Re tax on what's given to poor ? Yes, you're not actually giving if you claim it back are you ?
Sanitarium are obviously not giving all that much away judging by what they're supposedly holding in their bank accounts. Your step daughter would pay no more & no less then everyone else if there were a flat tax. Why does asking someone to pull their own weight become mean hearted & selfish ? Please explain ?

<<pay to the poor>> Josephus, how much of their profits do these religions actually put into "charitable works". In fact much of the charity is nothing more than recruitment. How about some transparency!

<<You haven't mentioned the thousands of employees Sanitarium employ who pay taxes>>
Oh! BHP or Wespac etc should not pay company tax, after all their employees pay income tax. Come on Jose, tax the commercial profits.

The mining Companies and major Banks profits go to shareholders; Sanitarium profits go to third World developments, like hospitals, health Clinics and Schools.
Do you currently pay tax you give to registered charities? If you are not supporting Charities and Volunteer Organisations you are mean spirited and selfish. It is better to give the whole gifted amount to assist a person than to pay a tax on that gift.
I assume you believe if you give your children money that you prefer to also pay the tax on that. Brainless idea involving Governments in taxing Charity. Governments are there to assist in the running of a society not to govern society; That is a Totalitarian State.

Josephus,
how much does the CEO of Sanitarium get paid ?

I do not know, but he would pay relevant tax on his salary the same as any employee. Does such a question have any relevance to use of Sanitarium profits?

How much money individual do you give to charity?
10% of your income?
How much of it do you think you should give to general Government revenue?
These questions relate to the reality.

Josephus,
When your CEO earns less than I do then I'll give to your charity, as it stands I'm in more need than your outfit. If I donated $100 to a charity, how much would actually go to the needy ?
Besides I already give a third of my pay to a charity called ATO. That money then goes to keep bureau rats in better conditions than I'll ever experience.

Josephus, you may claim ALL the profits from the Sanitarium company go to third World developments, like hospitals, health Clinics and Schools.
Without transparency, you can claim that, I can just as easily claim NONE of the profits from the Sanitarium company go to third World developments, like hospitals, health Clinics and Schools.
At the moment their profits are treated as if what you say is true, 100% and they pay no tax. The little evidence of "good works" by churches show that only a very small percentage of revenue is in fact used for anything that could be construed as "good works".

Even if you put a dollar in you local churches 'Poor Box' you can't be sure it actually goes to the poor and isn't being spent on a porno video for the local priest, can you? There is no transparency!

Churches should pay tax and their land holdings should not be exempt from taxes, rates etc.

There should be no exemptions and all the charitable work that they do should be covered by Government welfare, end of story.
The Government might have to raise taxes but that's the level playing field.

Is Mise, so you want a totalitarian society, where the Government is in control of all welfare. That means no volunteer work by charity as Governments would take over its control and have to pay workers. This would soon die as welfare agencies are not profitable organisations, that is why volunteers run them. We would live in a Government regulated society. Our democratic Government is for the people by the people: not control of the people by the Government. You want to kill the good will of the people to assist the needy, Rotary, Lions, Apex and dozens of other charities who give tax free to local needs. I say totalitarian socialism is a human tragedy.

Where churches can show that an activity serves a genuine charitable purpose they should get a tax exemption like any other charity. However, the way it is now contributions to a religious group get tax exemption whether or not it serves a charitable purpose. No tax exemption should be given merely for the spread of mumbojumbo!

Catholic church, Politicians, large businesses and those four big winners, the banks should all without question be paying tax. There is alot of taking and not much giving to be seen. As for non profit charities, like Rotary, Lions, CWA, Apex etc, who generously donate their time, energy and skills to their chosen area. Their reward is gratitude, appreciation and admiration. Funny how those who have so little can happily give so much. While those with the means who should be looking after their 'children', 'constituents' etc appear to thrive on building their own wealth and assets. I havent seen pics of the Vatican for a while but have heard its looking pretty spectacular.

david f,
The Church I attend has actually almost doubled in attendance in the last three years. So those attending actually believe they are receiving a worthwhile service.

Dear Josephus,

You have set up a straw man. That is to argue against something I never claimed. I never claimed that those who go to church don't feel they are getting a worthwhile service. Those who go to the cinema or a football match may also feel they are getting a worthwhile service. However, that is no reason for tax exemptions for cinema, football or church.

Josephus, points out that the business he is involved in is going gang busters with customer numbers up 100% in 3 years. A number of these business are indeed doing well, with an extremely good marketing plan in place. The perfect commodity, something you can't touch, taste, see or smell, something that takes up no room at all, and is easy to manufacturer. they have made thousands of them at no cost at all. Unlike cheese god never goes off, has no use by date, and if one no longer sells, just manufacture a new one. Its not hard the Hindu's have made thousands of them.
These corporate enterprises, pay no tax, and have no responsibility to any real share holders, except the few in the top hierarchy who are copping all the cream. Imagine if one of the most successful corporations of all times 'The Coce Cola Company' had been able to convince millions that if they didn't drink coke they would burn in hell for eternity, a pretty powerful marketing tool wouldn't you agree, and add to this no need to pay tax. The Catholic Church has been in business for over 2000 years, and has always been a top earner, so the god business is certainly worth getting into, just ask the likes of the Ron L Hubbard types and if they were honest they would tell you what a money spinner religion is.