Should we really subsidize churches and children?

[Taverner]

Families with children get tax credits. Churches pay no taxes.

Basically, we are as a nation encouraging churches and children - is this such a good idea?

[bryant69]

1. I suspect we are going to continue doing it

Go out and tell ten strangers you want to eliminate tax credits for families and tax exempt status for churchs and see how it goes.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[napi21]

4. I don't have a real problem with churches having tax exempt status

unless they violate the rules to keep that status!

I suppose it's wishful thinking, but I really wish the IRS would go after those who campaign from the altar, and constantly on TV all the time!

I know when I was a kid in Catholic grade school, we were told in no uncertain terms "We can't talk about that!" when someone would mention specific candidates.

[Caoimhe]

2. No it isn't.. but it won't change

[TallahasseeGrannie]

3. Yes to both

Churches shouldn't pay taxes, BUT the IRS should watch them carefully to see if they step out of line. Because if your pastor is telling you it is a sin to vote Democratic, then that is a political organization and not a church. Should we be listening to sermons? Heck yeah! From mosques, too. If you are going to demand tax free status you have to prove you deserve it.

We should be giving a lot more money to people with children. Children are our future. We should do like some European countries and give up to a year paid leave for maternity/paternity. AND universal health insurance for children. Some countries, like Germany, even hand out a stipend for children because their population is getting dangerously low.

But I'm cranky today. And old.

[Walt Starr]

5. Promoting procreation is in the best interest of society

although the promotion of religioin is not.

[Double T]

6. Both should be subsidized, but keep a HUGE SEPARATION between......

church and state. Religion is fine as long as it stays out of politics.

[kysrsoze]

7. You have no idea how difficult and expensive it is to raise children

People should receive assistance with their children. Of course there should be a cut-off at a certain number. We don't want to let things get out of control. As much as I love kids, I don't want to pay for the neighbors' 10 kids to go to college.

[ReaderSushi]

8. Yes to both.

I support separation of church and state so no taxes, but they have to stay out of government.

Tax breaks for children, yes BUT they should be tied to people who actually have children not people who are merely married and might have potential children. I also believe this particular tax break should be used to promote replacement level of our population (2 kids per family, the extra 0.1 should be added thru legal immigration)

[sendero]

9. Children?

Well, if you want there to be someone earning wages so you can have SS someday, subsidising children seems reasonable. It's not like the subsidy covers even a double-digit percentage of the cost of raising a child.

Churches? The way most of them operate is indistinguishable from a business IMHO. The pay themselves, use "works" money to try to get new "donors", etc. They should be taxed like a business because that is what they are.

[doubleplusgood]

10. absolutely no to both

"That which you subsidize, you get more of; that which you tax, you get less of".

There is no logical reason why we need to subsidize children via the $1000 (?) per child tax credit. Universal health care ? Yes. Free education ? Yes. But making it easier for people to have more kids via the tax credit seems insane in a world facing a host of population-related catastrophes. We need to be developing strategies to stabilize our population, not subsidizing more growth.

As a practical matter, however, this will only fly politically if the credit is limited for only 3 kids/family, which would cover most reasonable-sized families.

[dkofos]

11. I'm for subsidizing children.

But not the churches.

[Warpy]

12. It's been a good idea

Before the rise of the megachurch, that is. Most churches engaged in charity work and provided a social support system for rural and/or elderly people. Supporting the creation and early training of the next generation of citizens is also a good thing, especially since this essential work of the human race is done when the parents are at their poorest.

However, I'm all for taxing any commercial property a church owns and I don't care if that's where they're gonna put the new cathedral when they get enough money saved up. It's generating profit, tax it.

I just wish we could also tax the megachurches as show business outlets. Most of them have no indication they're anything religious, provide little in the way of charity (unless you call self aggrandizement through TV stations charity) and little social support for the people the preacher has never met up close.

[Fescue4u]

13. Would you like Tax paying churches to have a say in Government

When churches start sending billions of dollars in taxes to Washington DC, they will demand that they have a say in how its spent.

Unless of course you prefer Taxation without representation.

As for Children. Well the dependent deduction is not there to encourage people to have kids. The taxes I save on having a child doesnt even pay for the food for 2 weeks, let alone the rest of it.

The deduction is there to give parents a break. Rearing children is damn expensive. Children eventually grow up to become taxpaying adults.

The tax break most benefits poor familys and is a good example of a progressive taxation.

[fishnfla]

14. I think we should tax the fuck out of churches and parents

and with the revenue we generate we should enact a version of the Patriot Act that sticks our nose in their business. If they say something we dont like about Christmas, or if the kids make a peep at a trendy coffee shop, we should put them in a Blackwater prison and torture them with sodomy.

We should also disallow child labor laws and put kids to work cleaning up the Gulf Coast for next to nothing

Once they squeal from the torture, we should cowboy up the Blackhawks and rain White Phosphorus down on their neighbors' houses by mistake and call them insurgents too.

Then call ourselves a new country, the Unified Collective of Diebold, making sure we rule forever.

Thats my idear of Utopia