Quote:
Originally Posted by Aliantha
I would think that the main reason is most of the money donated to charities which include churches, comes from people who've already been taxed on their income, therefor, to tax it again would simply be wrong.
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Ain't that the truth. And doesn't that make sales tax/property tax also double taxation as we already pay income tax albeit low... just a thought.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aliantha
I guess when you get right down to it, if I give money to a church, I would then expect it to be used for the benefit of my community not the government, because I already give the government money in the form of taxes.
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Why do you differentiate between the community and the government? I think if you sit down and think about everything our government does with our money you'll see that line blur a lot. Roads, hospitals, community centers, schools, police force, libraries, emergency services, public transit, a military to protect it all, and countless other things I can't think of right now.
All these are things that we couldn't possibly have created as a people had we had a much smaller government that was less localized. Concentration of the money that people contribute to the community (if you think about taxes, church donations, and other things of that nature, they're all personal contributions to a greater organization, willing or not) makes these large scale public works possible. If you ask me, all these services are far more important to my community than any church potlucks that might come out of the collection dish.