Quote:
Originally Posted by R.M.
His net worth has been reported between forty and sixty million dollars. It's tax free money because it goes through the church. I really don't agree with that.
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if money goes to him (or his wife) from the church, its taxable to him
or if he makes money from books or speeches or CD's or online or any other way
its taxed to him
just like anyone else
what is not taxed are contributions to the church that remain with the church or are used for church programs (although when payments are made to individuals or businesses in pursuit of church programs the payments are taxable income to the individuals or businesses who receive the payments)
so the tax disparity is at the donor/recipient level in a church
a donor may receive a tax benefit for the donation, but the donation doesn't immediately create an offsetting taxable receipt until it gets paid out by the church
and not all donations to churches create tax savings as the individual has to be able to itemize deductions or have sufficient taxable income for a tax benefit
so in the grand scheme of all things taxable, a church is like a middleman, holding money until the assumed tax deductible contribution to the church becomes a taxable receipt to someone else and thus tax parity is restored