slb@drutx.UUCP (Sue Brezden) (10/07/85)
>tdn@spice.cs.cmu.edu.ARPA (Thomas Newton) writes: > >If the police mistreat a suspect, should they then mistreat all suspects in >order to be consistent? You seem to be saying a similar thing with respect >to religions: if the government mistreats (taxes) one religion, it should ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >mistreat (tax) all religions in order to be consistent. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Funny, I never viewed taxes as mistreatment. I always thought they were the price we paid for living in a civilized society. I suppose if you view taxes as mistreatment, you have a reason for your stand. I, on the other hand, see that churches reap the same benefits of civilization that I do, and should therefore pay the same price, as do corporations. Charitable organizations, on the other hand, do nothing BUT pay for civilization, and should therefore be exempt. Tell me, please--since taxes are mistreatment, do you pay yours? Or do you use the same arguement for yourself as you do for churches? Of course, you may not want to answer that question :-). -- Sue Brezden Real World: Room 1B17 Net World: ihnp4!drutx!slb AT&T Information Systems 11900 North Pecos Westminster, Co. 80234 (303)538-3829 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I march to the beat of a different drummer, whose identity, location, and musical ability are as yet unknown. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
tdn@spice.cs.cmu.edu.ARPA (Thomas Newton) (10/09/85)
>>If the police mistreat a suspect, should they then mistreat all suspects in >>order to be consistent? You seem to be saying a similar thing with respect >>to religions: if the government mistreats (taxes) one religion, it should > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >>mistreat (tax) all religions in order to be consistent. > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > >Funny, I never viewed taxes as mistreatment. I always thought they >were the price we paid for living in a civilized society. > >I suppose if you view taxes as mistreatment, you have a reason for >your stand. I, on the other hand, see that churches reap the same >benefits of civilization that I do, and should therefore pay the same >price, as do corporations. Charitable organizations, on the other hand, >do nothing BUT pay for civilization, and should therefore be exempt. > >Tell me, please--since taxes are mistreatment, do you pay yours? Or >do you use the same arguement for yourself as you do for churches? >Of course, you may not want to answer that question :-). > >-- > > Sue Brezden The early colonists obviously thought that some taxes could be mistreatment... If "the power to tax is the power to destroy" (the reason why Federal property is exempt from state taxes), then churches must be exempt from taxes since the First Amendment prohibits the government from destroying any religion. Taxing a church is thus mistreating it from a Constitutional standpoint. Both the Church and the State provide benefits to "civilization" that help the other. Should the Church be allowed to bill the State for services provided? It might be possible to measure the most direct benefits in both directions, but I doubt if it's possible to accurately measure the indirect benefits . . . My article was in response to the argument that goes "it is better to tax all churches than to have the government decide what is a church and what isn't." It wasn't meant to explain WHY churches should be tax-exempt, if consistency is factored out. -- Thomas.Newton@spice.cs.cmu.edu