Taxing Churches

[gb93433]

Originally posted by Dr. Bob:


Issue: Where in the Bible does the "church" own property to be taxed, anyway??

Thosse in the book of James who became believers often lost what they had, or their businesses were boycotted.

 

[Terry_Herrington]

Originally posted by Bro Tony:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr /> The government has no control over the church I attend. We are unregistered and do not pay taxes to the government. Remember, the power to tax is the power to control.

Terry,

Do you meet anywhere? Does the government know you exist? I can't believe the building you meet in is not taxed, if it is not an encorporated church. By the way the government doesn't tax our church either as we use all the land the Lord has blessed us with for His purpose. I will stand against any government interference in the church.

Bro Tony </font>[/QUOTE]Our church is unincorporated. We believe this is the biblical way to operate. As far as owing land is concerned, the land belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ and we will not pay taxes on it. To do so would, in our opinion, violate Scripture.

 

[gb93433]

Originally posted by Terry_Herrington:
The government has no control over the church I attend. We are unregistered and do not pay taxes to the government. Remember, the power to tax is the power to control.

You might think that until you ever get sued. I know of a church that was growing quite rapidly until it was sued by a non-believer. Within a few months the church vanished. Everything was sold and everybody left. The pastor was the son in-law of a very well known SBC leader. That lawsuit completely destroyed that church and what God was doing.

I am no expert but my understanding is that being 501(c)(3) limits your liability. Just try and get insurance without being a 501(c)(3). Most companiees will not insure you.

 

[Pastor Larry]

Originally posted by Ben W:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Pastor Larry:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Look at it this way, "the church" is a body of people, most of whom pay tax the first time, because they choose to worship God in a church they are required as a body to pay additional tax. When the church pays tax, it is the people in it that are paying the tax.

That already happens in every business in America, but no one suggests that the government should pay the wages of workers. </font>[/QUOTE]Yet the christians allow that situation to occur unfairly. Simply for going to church you are subject to additional taxation? </font>[/QUOTE]How do they allow that to occur unfairly? I don't understand your line of thinking here. Taxes, no matter who pays them, do not go to pay for the salaries of private companies. They are supposed to pay for public services and such. And even if the church were taxed, it would be a small price to pay for going to church. Don't get me wrong. I am glad they are not. Many churches would not survive if they were taxed. It would be a bad idea all the way around. But tax exemption is a government privilege, not a right given by God.

 

[Pastor Larry]

As far as owing land is concerned, the land belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ

Whose name is on the title deed?

 

[Dr. Bob]

 

[Bro Tony]

Our church is unincorporated. We believe this is the biblical way to operate. As far as owing land is concerned, the land belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ and we will not pay taxes on it. To do so would, in our opinion, violate Scripture.
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That sounds all wonderful and everything, but the land does belong to somebody. It is part of the law of the land that taxes must be paid. Are you willfully breaking the law? Are you willfully not submitting to the government that is set over you? If you choose to do so are you willing to pay the price when you get caught? The government has no control over our church, we teach, preach and do the ministries we feel led to. If you wanted to build on your land, would you get a permit? When you pay your pastor are taxes taken out? When you buy things for the church do you pay taxes? Paying taxes is not violating what Jesus called us to do, as a matter of fact the one time the issue was brought up He told the people to give to Caesar what was due Caesar.

Bro Tony

 

[Terry_Herrington]

Well Tony, our church does not pay taxes on either the land or anything connected with it. We feel that the church is non-taxable, not tax exempt. The state has no authority to tax God's church in any manner. We individually pay taxes, both on the things we own and the things we buy; however, our church does NOT pay taxes in any form. We are willing to pay whatever price is necessary to insure these freedoms continue. We support ministries such as Bro. Dixon in Indianapolis and others in other parts of the country, such as Pastor Otwell as well as we did Bro. Roloff before his death.

I guess this is just another of the growing list of things we disagree about.

BTW, we also protest weekly at Planned Parenthood, which murder babies and we protest the Sodomites every chance we get, such as at Gay Pride events. Just thought I would throw this in to give you a better understanding of our ministry. We also use only the KJV in our church.

 

[Pastor Larry]

So Terry, whose name is on the title deed?

 

[Terry_Herrington]

Actually Larry, I'm not sure. I was not a member when this took place, but it does not matter, the property is church property and belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

[Bro Tony]

I guess this is just another of the growing list of things we disagree about.

BTW, we also protest weekly at Planned Parenthood, which murder babies and we protest the Sodomites every chance we get, such as at Gay Pride events. Just thought I would throw this in to give you a better understanding of our ministry. We also use only the KJV in our church.

Thanks Terry,

We do disagree on the tax issue, again I want to restate our church pays no taxes to the government. My point was that if a church ownes property that they are not using for the purpose of the Gospel, then they should pay tax, it is the law. We do disagree on the KJVOism, I don't believe you have a biblical leg to stand on. We do agree on openly dealing with Planned Parenthood and opposing the murder of babies. We do agree on standing against the radical agenda of the sodomites. Finally, I believe we do agree that Jesus is the only way to salvation and nothing needs to be added to His finished work.

By my count that is 3 we agree and 2 we disagree. I have friends that are real close to having about the same ratio.

God Bless,
Bro Tony

 

[Terry_Herrington]

Originally posted by Bro Tony:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />I guess this is just another of the growing list of things we disagree about.

BTW, we also protest weekly at Planned Parenthood, which murder babies and we protest the Sodomites every chance we get, such as at Gay Pride events. Just thought I would throw this in to give you a better understanding of our ministry. We also use only the KJV in our church.

Thanks Terry,

We do disagree on the tax issue, again I want to restate our church pays no taxes to the government. My point was that if a church ownes property that they are not using for the purpose of the Gospel, then they should pay tax, it is the law. We do disagree on the KJVOism, I don't believe you have a biblical leg to stand on. We do agree on openly dealing with Planned Parenthood and opposing the murder of babies. We do agree on standing against the radical agenda of the sodomites. Finally, I believe we do agree that Jesus is the only way to salvation and nothing needs to be added to His finished work.

By my count that is 3 we agree and 2 we disagree. I have friends that are real close to having about the same ratio.

God Bless,
Bro Tony </font>[/QUOTE]Amen! I especially agree with the part about Jesus being the ONLY way to salvation, Praise the Lord!!!!!!

 

[Terry_Herrington]

Originally posted by Pastor Larry:
So Terry, whose name is on the title deed?

I have found out that the name on the property deed of our church is "The church of the Lord Jesus Christ."