New Project Shows Church Finance Corruption

[Dr Moore]

There is no doubt the church is funneling charitable donations from SLC through Australian accounts to obtain charitable status. This then allows members to claim all of their tax back on their tithing. It is also double dipping. Tax will have already been reclaimed on the US charitable donations.

That is an incredible outcome of this practice! Double dip avoidance when it comes to international tax is a huge red flag regarding the integrity of the folks in church management who concocted this scheme. It absolutely goes against the spirit of “honoring and sustaining the law.”

[simon southerton]

There is no doubt the church is funneling charitable donations from SLC through Australian accounts to obtain charitable status. This then allows members to claim all of their tax back on their tithing. It is also double dipping. Tax will have already been reclaimed on the US charitable donations.

That is an incredible outcome of this practice! Double dip avoidance when it comes to international tax is a huge red flag regarding the integrity of the folks in church management who concocted this scheme. It absolutely goes against the spirit of “honoring and sustaining the law.”

I got the expression "double dipping" from a non-Mormon guy I was chatting to in a pub a few months back. I had spent a couple of minutes explaining what the church is doing in Australia. I wasn't sure he had followed what I was saying until he looked at me and said "That's double dipping!" Boom. He knew exactly what the church was doing.

In Australian we often hear politicians say something "doesn't pass the pub test". This essentially means that ordinary people think something stinks so it must be rotten. So on the evidence at hand, Mormon tax practices in Australia don't pass the pub test.

[Dr Moore]

Stunning in that all of this was supposedly done under the light of public finance filings. However, the double dipping would not be evident at all from those filings. Neither would the laundering aspect, that the “charity” funds do not in anyway originate in Australia, are not administered by Australians, and don’t end up serving Australian people. Pub test. Smell test. Whatever you call it, it stinks.

[Dr Moore]

I happen to have had a few sit-downs with LDS Philanthropies agents over the years, starting in 2015 actually, and let me tell you, they made a VERY deliberate effort to solicit humanitarian donations by following referrals from one "wealthy" member to another. They got my name from a friend (who evidently ran out of ideas, because I'm definitely not at the top of any totem poles), flew out to see me and then, afterward, asked me to give them more names. This guy checked in twice a year until around 2018, and then dropped off. But for a few years there, it was hyper aggressive relationship building, flying out to buy lunches and solicit donations, pitch the value of recurring donations and assure prospective donors that every dollar would be used on humanitarian relief. Part of the kingdom giving back, and building the kingdom, at the same time.

Anyway, let's just say, what if the Aus gov decides this was too much sleight of hand by the Mormons? Given the facts:
(1) Double dipping. These charitable funds already received beneficial tax-avoidance benefits for the original donors in other countries.
(2) Money transfer trickery. The entities used to recycle these charitable funds ultimately don't actually DO anything at all in Australia. The charitable money isn't donated by Australians, isn't managed by Australians, and doesn't go to help Australians. It's nothing whatsoever besides a clever shell game to fool Aussie tax authorities so that members can gain a tax deduction on their tithing.

Okay, so what's the worst case scenario? I guess, a fine (based on lost federal revenue) and cancellation of the benefits (now members can't get that deduction)?

On the question of lost federal revenue for the Australia government, I did two quick searches:
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.or ... /australia
https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/econo ... st-release

So there are 155k members of record in Oz. I dunno, 22% activity rate? 4 members per household? That leaves roughly 9,000 active member households. Second link above shows AU$2,349/week average household income, or $122k per year. The federal tax rate is going to be about 33% at that income level. And then, depending if members pay on gross or net, then every year the gov misses out on about AU$2,700-4,000 in tax income (33% of 10% of $122k for gross, and 33% less than that members tithe on net)

Based on Simon's note, let's say this "scheme" has been going on since 2014. 8 years and running (9 if we count 2022). Which means the sum of all lost tax revenue from the church's tax scheme is (8 years) X (9,000 households) X (AU$2,700-4,000 lost tax revenue per hh). That sums to AU$194 million to AU$288 million. Or in USD, $135-200 million. In theory, the church could be on the hook for those back taxes, with interest.

And then there are penalties. On this website:
https://www.ato.gov.au/General/Interest ... -arguable/
it seems intentional disregard for tax law with the intention of under-paying or over-claiming a tax benefit, the penalty is 75% of the shortfall.

I think this means that, with interest and penalties, the church could potentially be facing roughly a doubling of the tax avoidance it enabled for members. The final value figure could be $270 to $400 million owed.

No idea if that is meaningful to the Aussie government. Maybe as a political victory for an ambitious charities minister? Who knows. It's not meaningful to the church at large, except in potentially huge negative PR value. I'm sure they would just say "we followed the law, so what we did was right," even if forced to pay. Really fascinating situation that I had never heard about or considered until an article caught my eye this weekend.

The whole scheme sure as hell does not match the spirit of "honoring and sustaining the law." Not even close.

[Moksha]

In Australian we often hear politicians say something "doesn't pass the pub test". This essentially means that ordinary people think something stinks so it must be rotten. So on the evidence at hand, Mormon tax practices in Australia don't pass the pub test.

Time to send in the LDS apologists. They will find tax parallels to the exchequer of Henry VIII and the extraction policies for the Vlad Dracul of Wallachia, all vetted by Kirton McConkie.

[Dr Moore]

I got the expression "double dipping" from a non-Mormon guy I was chatting to in a pub a few months back. I had spent a couple of minutes explaining what the church is doing in Australia. I wasn't sure he had followed what I was saying until he looked at me and said "That's double dipping!" Boom. He knew exactly what the church was doing.

In Australian we often hear politicians say something "doesn't pass the pub test". This essentially means that ordinary people think something stinks so it must be rotten. So on the evidence at hand, Mormon tax practices in Australia don't pass the pub test.

Looks like 60 minutes dropped a teaser overnight - bombshell program coming up, exposing this "double dipping" as Simon described a few months ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIFuicEy868

[Moksha]

Canadian TV show The Fifth Estate discusses the Church's wealth accumulation and the methods used to achieve it.

https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2092146755788

[BeNotDeceived]

Dr. Moore, the average U.S. corporation typically invests 10% of its net worth in the markets and we know the 'church' currently has almost $40 billion in the stock market and so judging just by that stat and figure alone, I think we can deduce the LDS 'church' is worth at least $400 billion. Jesus must be proud.

Respectfully, no. What data are you looking at to arrive at this "10% of net worth in the markets" claim? We can actually test that assumption with public accounting statements, and while it would take a little digging, I would begin by stating that I am very, very confident that this assumption is faulty on multiple levels. Beginning with the fact that most US companies also carry debt. Moreover, the LDS church is not a typical U.S. corporation.

Let me just suggest once again that inflating estimates of LDS church assets on the basis of faulty assumptions or uninformed notions only weakens the valid critical arguments against the massive wealth stockpiling that has taken place at the expense of doing good things in the world.

Dr., Google it... the average U.S. corporation invests, on average, around 10% of their net worth in the markets. A lot of people are trying to figure out what their $124 billion 'rainy day' fund is really for because we know it ain't for when Christ returns (still can't believe a 'church' official gave that as a reason) because first off, the US dollar will be worthless well before his triumphant return, like Christ needs money anyway and 3rd, I highly doubt he's gonna throw a big party with hundreds of billions upon return. The truth of the matter is that a little obscure article from 2016 from the UK's Guardian sheds some light on what the 'church' is hoarding all that money for...

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017 ... in-florida

Wondering why they own 3% of the land in Florida? That's why. And if you do a little research on how much it costs to start a city, current estimates are that it would take around $300,000 per person and so if the 'church' is planning on building a city for 500,000, do the math... 300k X 500k = $150 billion. Well, that $124 billion has probably grown to close to $130 billion since the disclosure and so they're getting closer. Who'd have ever thought that Jesus would be into multi-billion dollar malls, accumulating land all over the world and building his own city replete with homes, condos, apartments, hotels, golf courses, etc.? Forget Musk, Bezos or Gates as the world's richest man, right now, it's Jesus!

[Kishkumen]

Would absolutely love it if the LDS Church actually started to build a city and called it Zion.

[Moksha]

Would absolutely love it if the LDS Church actually started to build a city and call it Zion.

What would happen to such a city when Trumpists declare a new Kristallnacht?