Forwarded message:

Date: Thu, 6 Nov 1997 08:52:15 GMT From: Adam Back <aba@dcs.ex.ac.uk> Subject: Re: church of crypto anarchy (Re: Taxing Churches for their views? Bad idea. (fwd)) (fwd)

Jim Choate <ravage@ssz.com> writes:

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Adam Back <aba@dcs.ex.ac.uk>

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Seems to me that the distinction that churches are exempt from taxes partly hinges on their non-profit, or not-for-profit status.

No, it stems from the fundamental democratic axiom of seperation of church and state. If the churches pay taxes they aren't seperate.

I pay taxes, I am separated from the state.

Do you hold US citizenship? If so then, no, your assertion of seperation from the state is incorrect. It's that pesky "We the people..." thing. If you want to be considered seperate from the US *AND* you don't want to pay US taxes then renounce your US citizenship and move to another country *OR* figure out a way to become your own 1 person church. Like it or not that's the way it works.

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If the state supports churches they aren't seperate.

If the state doesn't tax churches they are subsidizing them relative to other sorts of organisations. This is surely a form of support.

Subsidize means to pay, the government does not pay as a rule pay the churches anything, that would violate the seperation clause as well. ____________________________________________________________________ | | | The financial policy of the welfare state requires that there | | be no way for the owners of wealth to protect themselves. | | | | -Alan Greenspan- | | | | _____ The Armadillo Group | | ,::////;::-. Austin, Tx. USA | | /:'///// ``::>/|/ http://www.ssz.com/ | | .', |||| `/( e\ | | -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- Jim Choate | | ravage@ssz.com | | 512-451-7087 | |____________________________________________________________________|