Mormon Church Reports Spending $180,000 on Proposition 8

[_Mercury]

[But you are correct. It is a high priority for the church to maintain its exemption.

Then they are doing a pretty crappy job.

[_Mercury]

Are there any churches that are not tax exempt? I mean... how big of a change would this really be? Huge? Small?

in my opinion to lose its tax exemption would be huge. Fist donations in all forms would not be tax deductible for the contributors. Next all donations would be taxable to the Church. Also, income earned on investments would be taxable as well. It would take about a 40% plus hit.

The more you talk Jason the more excited I get. I think I'll sacrifice a goat in order to push the dark pantheon to finally win and have teh exemption removed.

With luck, they will have to liquidate a few McTemples and turn them into gay bath houses.

[_Jason Bourne]

I may just do that ..., then again, the Church is creating so much bad PR for itself that there may be no need.

You may be interested to know that the Form 990 that NFPs file has become more cumbersome and large. The information required is voluminous. The form is 11 pages with a potential for 16 attachments depending on how the filer answers certain questions. The instructions are over 200 pages long.

IRS wants to know what NFPs are up too and the pulse from congress is if you get special tax status then you better be ready to tell us what you are doing with your money. Details of compensation to officers, use of non cash contributions, dispositions of assets, dealings with related and "interested" parties and so on are all to be provided with much more detail than before.

Interestingly Church's are still not required to file this form.

[_Jason Bourne]

Then they are doing a pretty s*** job.

Not really. They still have. Want to make a wager that the prop 8 issues will not cause them to lose it?

[_TAK]

Are there any churches that are not tax exempt? I mean... how big of a change would this really be? Huge? Small?

in my opinion to lose its tax exemption would be huge. Fist donations in all forms would not be tax deductible for the contributors. Next all donations would be taxable to the Church. Also, income earned on investments would be taxable as well. It would take about a 40% plus hit.

If forced to choose one - a possibility one day; which would the Church forgo? Tax Exemption or Finance Disclosure? My guess Tax Exemption..

[_Rollo Tomasi]

If forced to choose one - a possibility one day; which would the Church forgo? Tax Exemption or Finance Disclosure? My guess Tax Exemption..

I'd bet on tax exemption. I honestly consider that today's LDS equivalent of the 'Golden Calf.' Money is everything.

[_Mercury]

Then they are doing a pretty s*** job.

Not really. They still have. Want to make a wager that the prop 8 issues will not cause them to lose it?

Considering you welched on the wikileaks bet I am not in the mood for making another bet with you Jason

;)

hehe

[_JohnStuartMill]

As an aside, one of the talking points I heard from several LDS sources right after the election, was that the Church proper contributed NO money to the Yes on 8 campaign, except for a small, roughly $2000 travel contribution.

I remember this, too. Do you recall where you saw this?

[_TAK]

If forced to choose one - a possibility one day; which would the Church forgo? Tax Exemption or Finance Disclosure? My guess Tax Exemption..

I'd bet on tax exemption. I honestly consider that today's LDS equivalent of the 'Golden Calf.' Money is everything.

Yup .. the last thing the Lard's annointed want is a spot light on their activites .. That has not changed since Jos. Smith.

[_Jason Bourne]

Considering you welched on the wikileaks bet I am not in the mood for making another bet with you Jason

;)

hehe

I promise I won't this time.

But if I recall the last bet I never entered into it because what I had to do was not equal to what you would have to do if you lost.