yaotzin
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Sep 13, 2016 10:26 AM
yaotzin
458267
24690
554
otterbaiter
Separation of church and state goes both ways.
JackHarknessNerdySidekick
it's supposed to at least
InferiorInferno
Umm potato chips
thisistotallynotausername
I'm eating some as I read this post :/
mattbl
But on pretzel day? Well I like pretzel day.
tkomaster77
Stanley Hudson is my spirit animal.
plainoldfool
Shouldn't this be a Kevin gif?
Anhabanana
That would be more appropriate
MrMince
IKR they're called crisps
therealtexas
Fuck you Britain
Pianosteve
Fight me
SlightlyFig
We already did and won
therealtexas
You'd just cry after I threw your tea in the harbor
Pianosteve
why cry? what is a harbour if not a giant cup of tea?
Nessuss
Someone needs to read Bastiat's Parable of the broken window.
SerialChillinSpree
What is seen eclipses what is not seen. Reading selected works right now.
Bilvana
The primary aim of modern warfare is to use up the products of the machine without raising the general standard of living. Orwell, 1984.
endlessnumbereddays
http://bastiat.org/en/twisatwins.html well that was interesting.
SheTurnedMeIntoANewtButIGotBetter
TIL if i have much more monies i can fix my window, buy my new shoes, buy a new book, instead of just fixing the window.
superbest
I have never met a real person who thought space exploration was a waste of money
FallingWithStyleSquirrel
Lucky
PaprikaSix
I unfortunately have. People don't realise that space shit advances everything else at the same time, as well as being really cool
thegriffin88
I've had long talks with my mom about why this is important. She was raised in super-Catholic-school Barbados. Science isn't a thing there.
localvagrant
I have a space-buff friend who thinks manned space flight is overrated. I don't entirely disagree with him.
localvagrant
Probes, however: FUND THEM ALL.
Selerox
That's a good thing. It means the people you know are worth knowing.
Kittypurfect
What happens to all the resources that get burned upon leaving earth do we ever recover it?
superbest
When they talk about resources they mean monetary. Everything that was burned or launched was payed for on earth, back into our economy
NoxRiddle
I have. With this same mentality: "what good did it ever do ME? I've never directly benefited from the space program!"
BoJackatronHorsemaniac
Unless you're talking about No Man's Sky
WallpaperProblems
Savage
athaclena
Shots fired (but no other players can see them)
lurkerindisguise
Hello, even if i agree on religion and military, i also think ressource consomation (fuel mainly) on space program is a "waste"
superbest
Until we build another way, rocket fuel is the only way off this rock
lurkerindisguise
well, destroying this "rock" by trying to get off isn't the greatest of ideas
HD226868
The fuel used in the space program is hardly destroying Earth. Not even REMOTELY close.
lurkerindisguise
well, technically i don't think the whole rocket is green, and you are correct; however their is waste by participating in the system
tehflan
I have, but I'm an aerospace engineer so it might come up more often.
superbest
I have a few aerospace friends I'll have to ask them if it happens to them too. Do people confront you about it?
tehflan
People aren't usually confrontational so much as they just don't understand the purpose. I've definitely been asked why It's worthwhile.
superbest
For me the major increase the survival of the species long term is reason enough to spend infinite dollars haha
Imapancakenom
"Because space is cool" is totally a legit reason. And we'll keep getting cool shows about space on Netflix
TheBestUsernameYouveNeverSeen
Can you explain taxing churches? Because from what I understand, churches don't have a reliable source of income apart from donations, 1/2
twfeline
I know a lot of PEOPLE who don't have a reliable source of income. BUT THEY HAVE TO PAY TAXES, ANYWAY.
failphins2
People aren't an organization, and most people that don't make much money get all or more than they paid back in tax returns.
willi828
Ever heard of super churches? Churches that operate like non profits should remain that way, but for-profit churches are cheating.
schmak01
There is a church down the road from me that is bigger than a JUCO and requires your credit report and tax forms before joining...
TheBestUsernameYouveNeverSeen
2/2 Most of which go towards helping others? Tell me if I'm wrong, but I'm just curious.
HolyCringeLordBatman
Until you see churches so large they have credit card terminals and jumbotrons.
JustAFellaThatLikesDogs
No, pretty sure you're 100% right. Churches are non-profit religious buildings, and so there's no logical reason they should pay taxes.
Kendo2710
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y1xJAVZxXg John Oliver proved virtually anyone can start a church & claim tax free status. enjoy.=)
willi828
Not always. Anyone can start their own church and ask for money...and do whatever they want with it tax free. It's bullshit.
ionizdgrunt
Anyone can start their own business, church, organization, etc. But making it successful is extremely hard.
TheBestUsernameYouveNeverSeen
No one would give money to a random church without them preaching or helping their community.
zeemode
#scientology
JustAFellaThatLikesDogs
you can stand on the side of the street and ask for money and do whatever they want with it without any additional tax. Is that bullshit too
itmondsply
Lets forget about all of the hospitals that the govt relied(s) on the Church to build.
Freakiestsumo
I dislike megachurches and what they stand for but as a christian whose 50-60 people congregation barely gets by, taxing them would probably
Freakiestsumo
kill the church and community. A lot of what we do is put into the neighborhood and is really selfless. Taxing churches would hurt the
Freakiestsumo
little guy but not stop the people getting rich off of religion
HolyCringeLordBatman
would feel lit.
Heavymettle
It wouldn't make sense to tax a church anyway as every member already paid taxes. It is their donations that would get taxed again.
HolyCringeLordBatman
If a tax was levied there would be deductions for charitable work. Only churches who are pocketing and not using the money for good works
Freakiestsumo
But look at how taxes affect corporations. These kind of laws dont affect people who dont play by the rules. The smaller churches would hurt
Promethianfire
Do you like CT scans? MRI? Wireless phones? This and much more came to be because of technology developed for space exploration.
Killbot608
You're gonna need all that space money for your hospital fees and burn ointment prescriptions.
theluckysuccess
CarlSag
Sad but true
thegriffin88
Nah, just let him burn up on re-entry. I'll look for the flaming streaks of his corpse in the sky tonight...That was funnier in my head.
EccentricNimoy
1)Not to be that guy, but why Jens inferred the pic meant the money was literally sent to mars instead of what it states as a waste of $$$$?
uvwaexx
Because when you spend $100 billion on something, the people who got paid that, still spend that 100 billion in the economy
athaclena
It was hyperbole. The syntax is ambiguous, the words are text-only with no inflection, and context is everything.
EccentricNimoy
2)then use it to jump into their rebuttal?? Legit curious!!
EccentricNimoy
Much confuse
HolyCringeLordBatman
"Not sure how it helps us people on Earth". The post implies that no benefit to people on earth is gained by doing the rover launch.
HolyCringeLordBatman
Jens is explaining that despite the rover leaving the planet, the money goes into research and the local economy. So it's not a "waste"
TeamPsy
Logged in just to UpVote.
Bystandr
The advancement of technology and pursuit of the development of the capability to get off this rock is not wasted money.
cfcannon
It is arguably one of the most important things we can do since we know that extinction events happen fairly often. Humanity had no future
cfcannon
as a one world species or even one solar system one. It is insane that we don't have a system to protect from impacts from space.
Bystandr
We we do technically have several volunteers and there is a portion of public money reaching them , but it should be so much more. /agree
Lan098
Good thing the 60 trillion dollars we've spent on the "War on Poverty" has worked out. Whew!!
itsajokeitsnotreallymeanttobeserious
The government spends over $600 billion on welfare programs for the poor.How is that going to help us get a remote controlled buggy on mars?
DrMcNinjaIsMySpiritAnimal
*philosophy dude* What if we used the poor to explore Mars???
BasisPoints
Asking the real questions
CoolHandRK
Or, why are we not sending poor people to Mars yet?
ImguriansFillMySaltReservoir
Send them to the moon!
Doomgriever
+1 <3
firefighter26
I think that was one story points to Total Recall, that Mars was inhabited by working class poor indebted to a company with a monopoly.
Thisismyusernamenotyoursitsmine
Asking the important questions
Ouroborus
Some of those welfare programs will support young children who might get a shot at becoming an engineer and putting robots on mars.
override367
Because the medicaid treatment for one of those poor children might save their life and they could become a world renowned engineer
override367
The history of science is full of people like Fraunhofer who were impoverished but got a leg up and contributed greatly to science
AVoiceOfReason
And many scientists who have known quotes akin to "I owe my creativity to not having to worry about putting food on my plate."
HandsomeSwede
It's even more full of poor people who died due to malnutrition or lack of medicine and never got to contribute in the first place!
WookieWookieWookie
I'm confused. Are we supporting spending on science or not?
mann0311
Yes.
MerToo
It prevents the NASA engineers from being late to work because they couldn't get through the starving desperate children on the street.
Tunaccat
Corporate welfare is 1.5 times that of domestic "conventional" welfare. Look it up.
khora
Does it include building weapons systems the military doesn't want?
Tunaccat
No. That's just corporate subsidies vs welfare, foodstamps, public housing, etc. Corporations take far more tax money than the people do.
Rasmoh
Why not end corporate subsidies AND welfare? Why not make people actually be responsible instead of subsidizing their poor decisions?
Tunaccat
Because some people are disabled. Because sometimes investing in business is also a good idea. I'm arguing the extent of the latter.
Dramin
How much exactly is one hundred dollars billion dollars?
ashmenon
dollar dollar bill...ion.
BigPookie320038
Guod
Tree fiddy
ChimneyImps
$²100,000,000,000
ashipthatshipsshippingships
Man, if I had that much I could pay off Half of my student loans *sobs into bank statement*
annoyingjoe
3.14
andiwaslikebiiiitch
All the Monopoly money....ever
LizLemmon
You can't put a price tag on that.
peskyboner
Roughly sixty billion double dollars
BewareTheCrocigator
Just enough to catch a humanoid typhoon!
pistolwhipits
At least 3.
Squelchtone
2 whole marijuanas
DecentDeviant
Not according to my guy
vanaman
whole? no fucking way
ltsDizzyD
Pfff I can get 1 and a half Marijuanas for that
RonaldBilliusWeasley
Not four
twfeline
Remember that pile that the Joker set fire to?
somegeek
It's kinda like a large medium pepperoni pizza.
randomtechguy142857
1x10^11 $^2.
pHartAttack
About Tree Fiddy
dancfontaine
5/7
Saulot99
numbers.
Marshmallowblob
100 billion squared
appleandcherrypie
100,000,000,000 one dollar bills
orangeisthenewbasic
Well if they're buying parts abroad from airbus, rolls royce or something, technically the $ is leaving...
NiceMemeYouveGotThereBeAShameIfSomeoneWereToStealIt
Issa big money
TheifofZ
Let's put it this way: That's enough money to buy every person on earth one sandwich and soda each.
lLikeTurtles
Yes
Ecxusemeisthisnametaken
A little bit more than Vash the Stampede.
ThatGuyNoOneKnows
13 times the speed of light
bugeyetex
At least 12
Burke616
Well, you're not wrong.
MemeMachineWolfy
Stop, thief! My idea! Its been stolen!
allibaster12
Technically correct, which is the best kind of correct.
thegr8rambino
What does a million dollars even buy today it doesn't even buy a million dollars!
notevenaname
Easy peasy. One billion, one hundred dollars. Did you not take basic addition in maths? :P
Applepotamus
actually, it would be one hundred billion dollars squared
QuadrilateralEnix
How do you even pay for something in dollars squared?
ThatOnePolarBearOnTheLeft
You get an intern to cut the notes into the right shape.
DeusCaritasEst
https://cdn.meme.am/instances/56520610.jpg
FilthyRedmond
About 4₩
mywaysnotverysportsmanlike
Dollar dollar bills yall
RoketSurgery
To put it in perspective, Bill Gates doesn't even have 100,000,000,000 dollars.
isaidsomethingcool
Two parsecs
SuscriptorJusticiero
So six of those should be enough to bullshit your way through the Kessel run, right?
CustardCream95
Aha!
rustybronco
Or about $4.5^17 Vietnam Dong
kickbabies
The exact amount you can get out of an ATM machine.
SmellOfMonkey
It's dollars one hundred billion dollars
datguyjay
More like one hundred billion dollars dollars.
thiskidjoe
I'm going 101 Dimmidollars Bob.
FuFuLameIsh
"Depends on what you want" - drug dealer, probably.
cataclysmixx
Roughly seven signed pictures of Neil DeGrasse Tyson wearing a bunny suit
mikeyman512
$$60 billion dead or alive
SIrEvilMustache
http://imgur.com/avMnAkB
HeffalumpsandSnoozles
About 25 billion + bags of potato chips.
Carnwennan
About three fiddy.
megandives
You had one shot.
ZyGyZyGy
I was hoping for this comment.
AlphaCueUp
30 speed
CosmicTeapot
LOL
CosmicTeapot
You win
tangripper
too late...pls stahp
m4rci4no
Something something reference
Mormole
About 7 salmons
jiminibillybob
About 5
sorocraft
About tree fiddy
saltyslug
At least
infernoinmyass
maybe a little more.
digbickcaddy
3.5 is the best I can do bud
ColinCraig
You ain't fooling me, LOCH NESS MONSTER!
ThatOnePolarBearOnTheLeft
I have a buddy who is an expert in Mars Rovers. I'll have to get him to have a look at it.
Seemsfloored
I'm afraid there's no market for Mars Rovers at the moment
Negnarholf
It'll be sitting in the shop for awhile, best I can do is .25
Corgishavedisproportionatelysmalllegs
5 out of what? ....maybe 6.
DeusCaritasEst
Let's give it a 5/7 and call it good.
dEadSdG
Not as good as the dark knight.
Vultee66
meh if both numbers can fit on a white board they're practically the same number
KenNin
You sound like my astronomy professor
YWOODIGIVAFUK
http://media3.giphy.com/media/opY7SoUTNU3ao/giphy.gif
Thatoneguyfromthedistance
Why is taxing churches such a big thing?
hedgewizard
Coral Ridge Presbyterian in Ft. Lauderdale would pay about $218,000 in taxes a year to the county.
nerdasaurus0042
Fraud, lots and lots of fraud. There are several half a million dollar homes in Detroit that are tax exempt for religious reasons.
inappropriateunzip
That would be a state property tax exemption, the issue at hand is Federal tax exemptions.
nerdasaurus0042
Thank you for the clarification.
noreallywhatsmyname
Fine, tax churches. Then deal with what they're entitled to as a result.
imooforyou
Removing entitlement doesn't create more entitlement. They'd be entitled to the same BS an average tax paying entity gets.
itsajokeitsnotreallymeanttobeserious
Why is separation of church and state such a big thing?
fitlex
ISIS. Crusades. Spanish Inquisition. Holy Roman Empire etc...
Elroydb
The free practice or lack thereof is (supposed to be) extremely important to the US
DrMcNinjaIsMySpiritAnimal
Because otherwise it gives people more incentive 2 violently fight each other. Separate & the state becomes a neutral ground 2 hash out prob
itsajokeitsnotreallymeanttobeserious
The state becomes a neutral ground? Because there is only harmony in our political state. Unsure that last sentence is at all true.
DrMcNinjaIsMySpiritAnimal
Neutral ground != harmony. The championship field is neutral ground but the teams just sit around, braiding each other's hair.
[deleted]
[deleted]
mefteef
When our lawmakers continue to pass legislature based upon their religious beliefs the separation of church and state isn't even real.
itsajokeitsnotreallymeanttobeserious
Separation church/state doesn't mean that lawmakers must exclude beliefs in passing legislation. Regardless if beliefs coincide w/religion.
itsajokeitsnotreallymeanttobeserious
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." 1/2
HolyCringeLordBatman
You can pretend that two centuries of court rulings disagree with you, but that's not intellectually honest.
itsajokeitsnotreallymeanttobeserious
Disagree with what?
Fahargo
I'm even religious and I still don't see why churches aren't taxed. However taxing them isn't suddenly gonna solve the debt crisis like 1/2
Heavymettle
So religious people should get taxed twice because they have group meetings 2-ish times a week?
Fahargo
I love how I get downvoted just for saying I'm religous, riiighht
winchent
i see you're just glossing over the three replies that actually explain why you got downvoted then, in an attempt to start a firefight
Fahargo
Those are respectable disagreements explaining why. You don't get down-voted by people with respectable disagreements.
winchent
That's the whole reason for the downvote system - for people to disagree with your statement. It's not a hate crime to downvote something.
Hereismypassword
Wouldn't it just be taxing money that is already taxed though?
Heavymettle
Yes, that is literally what it would be. Double tax on anyone religious.
MindlessChaos
Uh.... you do realize that it's a charity and a nonprofit.... everything gets put into charitable work in 1 way or another. 1/2
MindlessChaos
there are some cases of abuse, which I detest, but it is far from the norm. (Other nonprofits have the same issues..)
tornbetweenscyllaandcovfefe
Tell that to the Catholic Church.
MindlessChaos
I was talking about Protestant Churches, but the Catholic Church corruption peaked several centuries ago and was largely due to secular 1/2
Fahargo
You mean the most charitable organization out there? You must be thinking of preacher churches
Fahargo
Some crazy people like to claim. The majority of all church's make jack all so there wouldn't be anything to tax besides property
Kongur
Thats not true. Many churches have lots of money, earning interest. Also, lots of funding go through churches for various things.
Fahargo
So while you could make money off of preacher church, regular church's do so much charity it wouldn't even be taxable
Fahargo
Preacher churches make money, those are few and far in between. Real churches like catholics and Mormans make very little money and do 1/2
Fahargo
A lot of charitable work, so their money wouldn't even be taxable. Catholic and Morman churches are the majority of all churches
Thatoneguyfromthedistance
My church has most of its money going back into the community, through programs for youth, community service, disaster response. Etc.
omgwtfhuh
So the money spend on non-religious charity and community activities stays tax exempt, everything else is taxed.
tehflan
The problem with that reasoning is that churches will still have to keep their buildings running and pay staff so the taxes on even just 1/
tehflan
for that will take away from charitable work they could otherwise do with the money that gets taxed. 2/2
bufferkiller
Everyone that attends a church like this seems to be an expert on their church's finances. I find this to be highly unlikely.
itsybitsyspider
And I've been to churches with a congregation so small, a tax would choke it and make it close.
Thatoneguyfromthedistance
If they had to pay taxes, then we would essentially disappear due to not being able to pay bills.
00110001001001111010000110110110011
Charitable donations would still be tax exempt.
CKnowles
Atheists and groups united on non-religious agendas would also appreciate the opportunity to put money into their communities.
Zoronii
There's plenty of secular charity/community groups to donate to. And if there aren't then they're welcome to start one.
CKnowles
Obviously. But they have to file. Churches don't.
willi828
Then it closes. Welcome to capitalism. People vote with their money and ridiculous claims shouldn't be funded.
DeathStarFalloutProbablyKilledAllTheEwoksOff
Not necessarily - if their books were open to the IRS you could assess how much is spent on charity and tax the rest of it accordingly
Elroydb
Yes necessarily. MuCulloch vs Maryland - the power to tax is the power to destroy
BraveUsersubNewestPatrol
Ever been through Nashville, or anywhere in the Bible Belt? Church "corporations" have literal skyscrapers. It's insanely profitable.
MrPCNerd
Those are the exception, not the norm
mineovermatter
I seriously doubt that any more. 50 years ago maybe.
isares
Then perhaps they should be the exception to the tax rule as well
Freakiestsumo
I wouldn't say exception but rather an anomaly. In comparison to the number of churches, it is a very small minority.
notevenaname
Who is we though? I'd say there is some people who would like for churches to disappear but regardless, charity is not exclusive to religion
Freakiestsumo
He is not saying charity is exclusive but many churches do in fact give to the community.
Theguybehindthecurtain
Much more common though. After all, look at hospitals, they were mainly started by Christianity.
notevenaname
Started? Without even going there, I'm talking now. C'mon guy, because I don't believe the exact same things as you, you think I dont care
ashmenon
Question: how public/transparent are church financials? Because it seems like megachurches would be great laundering opportunities.
Karilyn
Most churches are non-profit (not including megachurches). They only keep enough money to pay the bills, the rest goes to charities.
Karilyn
For scale, a median church size is 75 regular attendees, the median yearly offering is $1100, and the median pastor salary is $31,000.
Karilyn
Median yearly offering per person, in case that was unclear.
thesixthcourier
Meaning that they would pay little, if any, tax due to charity exemptions. So why not have the tax exists. The churches that are truly >
thesixthcourier
non-profit would see very little effect (so long as the tax code for them was written correctly) and churches that actually turn a profit >
thesixthcourier
would have to pay tax on that profit. While I realize churches that turn a profit an exception (not the rule) the ones that do turn quite >
thesixthcourier
big profits, like megachurches. And they depend on public services, like firemen, public roads, subsidized energy costs to exist, so they >
bufferkiller
This is false. On average only about 13% of a church's income may go to charities. No evidence that it does, only that it MAY go to it.
bufferkiller
85% of the income goes to internal operations of the church. about 2% typically goes toward overseas missions.Very little goes into charity.
[deleted]
[deleted]
bufferkiller
No, that's what the 13$ is.
bufferkiller
Citations above if you're interested.
[deleted]
[deleted]
bufferkiller
The 13% for charity is actually cited as 13% that may go back into helping the community, which covers those things.
[deleted]
[deleted]
HolyCringeLordBatman
You're asking for a citation, and then you give an anecdote. You're new to this aren't you.
bufferkiller
I do not have the most recent studies, but here are the ones I used for an article I wrote in 2011. I doubt they've changed that much.
bufferkiller
http://generousgiving.org/stats
bufferkiller
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/charity/2008-10-07-charity-faith_N.htm
bufferkiller
http://www.tithing.com/blog/giving-statistics/
jsmitley
Anyone fact check any of this? Or are we all just jumping on the Jens wagon?
JustARandomStrangerOnTheInternet
http://imgur.com/VSPHUHD
Randomgamerdude
Curiosity cost $2.5b, defense budget is $618b a year (about $2,328,082,191 every 33 hours, someone check my math). He's pretty close.
Randomgamerdude
By the way, the way I calculated the 33 hour number was ((618 billion)/(8760 hours in a year))*(33 hours)
kittybuttwiggle
Even if Jens was completely wrong it wouldn't stop the sentiment of the picture from being stupidly short sighted.
Nintura1182
Also, the majority of Nasa's spending comes from donations. Most of what it gets from the Government is spent on day to day operations.
ThatOnePolarBearOnTheLeft
That I didn't know. Seems a bit sad, but it also doesnt surprise me.
flowseeker
I don't know how he could have calculated how much tax revenue churches would provide since they aren't required to disclose their profits.
Fahargo
It would be miniscule and no where close to that. Besides preacher churches most churches are charitable organizations that would hardly 1/2
Fahargo
Get taxed.
YuhBoi
Aaaaaah. The ol' church tax bandwagon.
YuhBoi
The church my family helped grow from 5 people to over 1500 actually helps fund local public education on a pretty large scale...
TheUsernameGothamNeeds
It's sad how many people don't know what churches actually do.
JackHarknessNerdySidekick
rip off people who need the money more than them in many (not all) cases, spend money they do take in less well than a non religious charity
TheUsernameGothamNeeds
Do you have facts for these claims?
HomelingRazor
About the church tax thing - you do realize that one major corporation that doesn't pay taxes would be way more than almost all churches...
HeroSky
apple
subluxate
Shocking, but wanting to tax churches and wanting major corporations to have to pay their fucking taxes aren't mutually exclusive.
HomelingRazor
For some reason it's always "churches are tax exempt" but these major corporations that have the tax breaks that you voted for are getting
HomelingRazor
Away with criminal theft of the American tax dollar. But yes, lets tax churches where the average citizen lives.
willi828
No, actually the corporations are legally moving to countries and the government allows it. Don't like it, ask for change.
HolyCringeLordBatman
I'm willing to bet anyone that wants to tax churches also wants to close corpoarte tax loopholes as well.
Erectiocutioner
This guy actually really bothers me. Churches are nonprofit and the money they "make" are all donations. They should not be taxed. 1/2
willi828
doesn't bother you that pastors in mega churches make millions? religion interferes with advancement of science, and should be taxed.
DarthFutuza
...it doesn't interfere with the advancement of science, rather stupidity of ignorant individuals who refuse to use their brains do.
Erectiocutioner
I agree megachurches are a little different with their pastors earning $147,000 on average. They aren't being pastors for the right reasons.
WookieWookieWookie
How in the world does religion interfere with science in the modern world? And since when is that the basis on what should be taxed?
Erectiocutioner
Also yes, the military spends a lot, but they are the best military in the world and it's a price worth paying for the best protection.
SerialChillinSpree
I'm pro military but it is bloated. Every govt. program is bloated - cut every one by 10% and use the gadrillions for great civic causes.
TheHorsesNameWasFriday
The first guy is delusional about how taxes work. The second guy is delusional about how church taxes works. End of story
Mlalahoi
All the same guy.
Fahargo
All correct until the tax exemption thing. People really don't understand how taxes work and how little taxes their would be on churches
gorgosaurusrex
*there
norill
i've seen people write "there" where "their" should be a lot, but rarely the other way
MyUsernameIsntAvailable
Mhmm, does this guy want minister lobbyists? Because that is how you get minister lobbyists. Separation has to go both ways.
FeckItImAubreyPlazaNow
A lot of people forget the 'no taxation without representation' thing that started this whole crazy America experiment.
willamjr
Property taxes would be the big ticket item. These little 12 pew churches surrounded by 40 floor highrises.
Slander7
Not knowing enough about it to angrily side with you or the FB commenter, cab you explain or point me to something that does?
Fahargo
Alright so when people think of churches they seem to think of Big for profit preacher churches where the preacher asks you to plant a 1/2
Fahargo
Seed of faith [1000 dollars to help him buy his new mansion]. While these churches do make the most money out of all churches they are 2/3
Fahargo
Very few compared to catholic churches and morman churches which actually do charitable work and get very little income.
thesixthcourier
Right, and they would pay little, in any, tax (as they could file exemption against the charity work that they do) but we would still be >
flowseeker
They should at least be required to disclose their finances like every other charity.
HMardukas
Yeah their deductions would be massive. Idk why people get so hung up on it
thegriffin88
Because murdering an Evangelist is apparently illegal so I'll just take their money instead.
Komradekrampus
Reddit echo chamber tells them this should be a thing, so they say it without critically thinking about it.
itsybitsyspider
Because taking away tax exemption wouldn't hurt the big churches but would choke the smaller ones. I've been to churches that if they --
itsybitsyspider
-- were taxed, they wouldn't be able to stay afloat. Small town, small congregation.
norill
church ain't a business to stay afloat. and priests can work too
itsybitsyspider
No but the buildings require maintenance and utilities to pay.
norill
isn't it a percent? would affect big churches more than small churches
Tanwolf
Consider: One man makes $25k a year, another $50k. Each pay $23k to live. If they were taxed 20%, only one could afford it.
notevenaname
If there was a bag of chips I could get that donated half the money to a space program I'd exlusively eat their product.
captjackvane
Difficulty - the donation chips are made with Olestra and taste like Cheddar Cheese and Cher's asshole...
TehStoner
The problem with that is the chip company sets a cap on the size of the donation, so it's '25% of all proceeds up to 5 million dollars' >>
TehStoner
After 5 million, they no longer have to donate anything, but can still use that as advertising to drive up sales. Sick, twisted, world.
ZombieEinstein
It is technically possible for private citizens and corporations to donate directly to the NASA budget... this isn't out of the question.
actuallyfamousperson
As much air as they put in the bags you could probably survive a while in space
GiantRobotsRule
And the organization that sells them could be "International Taste Station"
LeslieLoy
In my opinion, you have won the internet for the day!
C0mtraya
Why not "Terrestrial International Taste Station", in short "TITS".
EccentricNimoy
Fucking brilliant combo there! +1
TheCanadianNerd
This just in, Elon Musk starts new chip company
MartyMcNugget
I don't how long you'd live just eating potato chips but I'd be interested in watching your descent into madness.
twofishtails
Gotta have a 24/7 live cam for that. I would be able to take my eyes off the screen.
NationalistCanadianMooseWarrior
Be a smartass and have only baked, low salt/low fat and drink lots of water and it's feasible, isn't it? Chips are technically potato...
MartyMcNugget
This is where my potato eating survival knowledge is highly lacking I'm afraid.
Squeezit
SunChips donate half the money for a bag of chips towards their goal of sending someone to the sun. At night time, of course.
buickgnx88
Just don't bring them into space! https://cdn.pastemagazine.com/www/blogs/lists/39.png
drfarren
Watch out, they're ruffles!
TheGodlySka
If someone crowdfunds this company I will support you. As long as a significant portion goes either to NASA, or just space/ocean exploration
nicholcm
Ocean Exploration - that could be whole new branch of the company
spicefreak
Finding Cthulhu or your money back*.
spicefreak
*Refunds will be split evenly among all surviving investors when the stars align in 2347.
lordvarysnasterofwhispers
The amount of upvotes on this comment is an excellent argument for why space exploration could be done with private money
NickRivieraMD
I think this suffers from the 'awareness' fallacy. Just coz people are willing to click a button doesn't mean they'd support it meaninfully
destructionhamster
I wouldn't even care if they're good. If I had to eat munchos just to give money to NASA I would
hairyfishsticks
I like Munchos, wtf?
KronaSamu
Samr
AndrewMuthaLuvinL
I really hope @nasa notices this and decides to go through with it all thanks to an Imgur comment
Ryebread91
If only we could explore the space they left in the bag of chips then nasa would save millions.
DeltaBlast
I've been donating all the money I pay for a humble bundle to wikipedia, maybe we could pick nasa as a charity instead?
Ani2thoughtful
red bull funds nasa.
AllisDashChalmersWasAnInsideJob
Maybe on the back it could debunk the space pen BS story. Or am I the only one who likes light reading while eating chips?
NickRivieraMD
Like, to the exclusion of all other food?
notevenaname
Yup. For science. Maybe they can make some kinda supplemented superchip so I wont die too quickly, or they can use me to test human limits?
thegriffin88
If they made the percentage of air in the bag up by funding science I'd be fine with having %50 less chips.
darkhavana0512
C0mtraya
I would certainly do this!
RCTX12
Someone just had a billion dollar idea
goldensky
Sign me the fuck up for some space chips
Squeezit
Even if they tasted horrible, I'd still do it.
spicefreak
I care too much about flavour for that. Nasa still needs to learn to cook.
TrixQuatro5
I had to read this so many times to understand. Now I agree.
Baconthief1994
Me too
colonelrussia
Well, it's a good idea. BTW, are they sell astronaut's meal? I think it would be good to eat when hiking
NickRivieraMD
You can get MRE equivalents produced for the consumer market at like 1/3 the price.
Stache13081
I upvoted this post and your suggestion because the idea is good. I also just recalled that my parents did NOT buy a $1300USD microwave 1/2
Stache13081
2/2 but did buy when they dropped to $600, so I hope some of that $$ helped get Neil to the moon.
GlockRanger
Brb
PolaroidPuffin
Not a bad idea, I've been wanting to do start a twitch channel so I can donate a percentage of the tips
FluffyMcDoogle
why is your comment 2nd?
Koncrete
$100 a bag. Get your space chips here.
VoidIncarnate
Am I helping by drinking Tang?
Seanthombbomb
Haven't I seen this comment before?
y2kNep
Houston we have puns,
triumphmaximus
Half the bag is just air [space] anyways. They can donate the money from that half.
TheActualMalloryArcher
You can but they are Phyllis Diller's Used Dildo flavored
ChocolatePieofPink
i'm pretty sure it'd be really dry
endrsgm
you could stop eating them and donate the money instead :))
Razaim
Cool idea. Nasachos or something. Im a bit buzzed btw
NationalistCanadianMooseWarrior
That's a good name though. Easy to say, catchy, and unique.
marakesha
Buzzed Aldrin?? AHAaaaaaaa
ragnarLothbrock
Maybe you should do that more often, then
twofishtails
Part of a healthy launch....................*takes another bong hit*
truthsmiles
That's a good idea. Serious question though: What would be the cutoff? 40%? 25%? 10%? (I don't think 50% would be possible w/o overpricing)
thegriffin88
Whatever % of air is in the bag. It would make me less mad about every bag of chips I eat.
AdvancedIntellectualApplicationsofQuantumTunnels
As much as the % of fucking air in the bag.
dstatistics
Without that air in the bag, you'd be popping open a crispy bag of crumbs
AdvancedIntellectualApplicationsofQuantumTunnels
I can't argue against that, but the air to chip ratio seems a little skewed.
spicefreak
It's nasa, inventers of the upside-down writing pen, I'm sure they could find a way to maximize the crisp to dead space ratio.
AdvancedIntellectualApplicationsofQuantumTunnels
The Russians will just put the chips in a tube then?
notevenaname
Well, I actually thinking I'd pay up to double for the product because space is awesome. Realistically I think 10-25%, fantastic and do-able
betamail
If they put the price up 25%, and then donate half that amount to the space programme, they'd be taking a 37.5% cut on revenue per packet.
sdmitch16
Why not donate the price of a bag of chips everytime you buy a bag of chips?
CountessVonFingerbang
Because it's not automatic and therefore harder.
spicefreak
I'd pay 50% extra tops. Unless they were super tasty.
AgamemnonsMemes
Depends on the markup. I remember reading that a 57g bag of lays is about 50 cents to produce (before distro, etc) so if they 1/2
AgamemnonsMemes
Aimed for a lot profit (ha..) and sold a bag for like, 2 bucks, you could send $1 per bag to NASA. And they sell about 200mil a year....
AgamemnonsMemes
low profit* bleh
iLoveOatmeal
An luxury tax on chips to put money into the space program in order to increase domestic spending would adversely affect dip sales. 1/2
iLoveOatmeal
The French Onion Dip Manufacturers would have to lay off all their workers. Governments don't create wealth, they only move it around. 2/2
spicefreak
So you're saying that sauce companies would see a dip in sales?
iLoveOatmeal
LetumComplexo
I assume you're being ironic?
UFOTuesday
Yeah, the premise here is private donation from one company, not broad taxation on a category of product.
GoogleFucker
What about the Mars candy company?! They could get in on this too!
ArchMagos
That would be a genius marketing move on their part
thegriffin88
Why has Mars foods not done this already?!
SDOMO
Mars is a privately held family company. They bathe in chocolate and shit on solid gold toilets.
MartyMcNugget
One of these facts is not like the other
SDOMO
hutchnow
So....they might benefit from a little positive publicity?
hutchnow
...as it is clear they don't need the revenue.
RelativeVelocity
They are history buffs, they donate to historical sites like colonial Williamsburg in Virginia
thegriffin88
Hmmm...I do really like Colonial Williamsburg. That's my historical Disney land.
RelativeVelocity
Rightfully so, that place is a blessing to have still with us. I've been there a few times, probably going to visit this year too.
lLikeTurtles
Legalize marijuana, tax it and the money goes to NASA. The program slogan would "Get high, so we can go higher"
ravadosh
spaceweed
freakinspiderm0nkeys
Do you work in advertising? If not, you've missed your calling my friend
justlittleoldme2020
605th up vote here. You sir either work in advertising or should!
lLikeTurtles
Close, I am a Steadicam operator, I film the ads, I don't write them though.
lLikeTurtles
And thanks for your upvote.
conniecpu
Except those marijuana taxes already in place are going to the schools :P at least in WA
happiergnome
So they can cut the budget from other tax means to support local contractors and garbage collectors? /s
only90skidswillgetthis
Argh! Fucking useless!
ManHasNoUsername
Get high for higher education?
lLikeTurtles
This needs more upvotes, it needs to be higher in the comments!
lozeldatkm
I went to a pot shop in Bellevue that had a deal where Microsoft employees get 15% off... I'm pretty sure there's a joke there somewhere.
CaptainMalcolmReynoldsIsWhatINamedMyDog
'Goes to schools' Yea sure, like all the lotto money.
drfarren
Colorado collected so much that they had more than the schools could use (at the time).
Jagadid
Neat, so the actual tax funding didn't have to do anything, just like when they put money to schools; cut the same amount.
joeynew
Nope, you obviously have never seen the gov at wotk. You can always spend more money. Salaries, technology, books, arts all cost money.
dano37
I just made an account so I could up vote this
ImHereToTellYouThatsWrong
That's a good reason. Cherish it, you might have signed up for... more difficult ones.
ale624
Welcome aboard dano37.
7thlevelLazerLotus
Worth it
icreatedanaccounttoupvotethis
Lol, I'm relevant.
drfarren
Welcome to the fold.
WagonFullOfPamcakes
Most excellent Mr Dano
lLikeTurtles
Welcome to this weird website where everyone reposts things and comments the same jokes. I LOVE IT!!! (you'll fit right in!!)
KimJongPhill
I made an account just to up vote this
icreatedanaccounttoupvotethis
.
KimJongPhill
And you already have 123 upvotes?! I'm going to start saying "I just made an account so I could up vote this"
icreatedanaccounttoupvotethis
.
twofishtails
That's actually genius. A little too subversive for the average consumer, but really clever +1
ItsTime4it
Ill smoke to that !
thegriffin88
Colorado is already richer because of that. Politicians are wondering why they didn't do this sooner they're just rolling in the tax $.
lLikeTurtles
Yup, $996 million in 2015
DickPicEnthusiast
"We need more funding to rescue Matt Damon from Mars. We need to get more kids smoking pot, ASAP"
lLikeTurtles
TheRoyalCheese
That would aggravate the NASA physicists so much since "up" doesn't even mean anything in space. Let's do it.
Solemnyc
True, but the enemy's gate is down.
AlistairGallagher
The gates are open!
GuardsmanMiku
yes, however height does exist in space, since it is distance from the ground
NationalistCanadianMooseWarrior
So *technically* does that mean that "up" is just distance from earth in every direction?
chimpspirit
It's the distance from whatever you're going to or leaving from.
chimpspirit
It's the distance from whatever you're going to or leaving from.
GuardsmanMiku
well if i was floating in space I'd probably say someone above my head was 'up' from me, but I wouldn't do that with height
Pengeg
. this is my destiny
Calleponken
This.
infernoinmyass
this is fucking gold, i tell u. .
Sairvous
Holy fuck thats genius.
BoogaAndTheB52
Already goes to education in Colorado I think. Which would be my first choice.
lLikeTurtles
Educate new rocket scientists, so we can go higher. My slogan still stands. And I'm high. GO NASA, GO SPACE, GO SCIENCE (the real kind)!
lLikeTurtles
AND GO EDUCATION! LEARN COOL SHIT, STAY IN SCHOOL, DO DRUGS. (just marijuana, don't touch the other fucking shits, they will fuck you up)
endrsgm
just like tobacco settlement money would go for roads and health care? lol
ThatFellow
Oh that's fucking good, my man
katos1995
Love it
lLikeTurtles
And I like Turtles.
lLikeTurtles
Which makes me think, we need turtles in space. A turtle in the ISS would be the fastest turtle in the universe!!!!!!!!!!!
eatchemicals
And they could call them Spacechips...
LongLostSonofAlbertoFujimori
Two words: Homer Simpson
AnythingMuchShorter
They're 1701-D-lichous
JoelGeek
This some Stir Friday-level shit.
AsABlackMan
Or they could bring back Asteroids
IFuckingLoveGoldenRetrievers
Eat Space chips, fund spaceships!
PastryKingOfFrance
I shall eat them in my spacepantz
PastryKingOfFrance
And try not to make a space mess
emsislife
Where is the Kickstarter?!
governmentgavemeagun
You. You there. You're a class act, I like you.
4chansdboard
Someone get Bill Nye on this, he has an imgur account
Alberny
Name of this account?
notevenaname
Found it! @planetarysociety
elmesito
That Spacechip fries very fast as well!
thatsthewaythenewsgoes
Spudniks
GSDPupper
Fuck you all I'm TM this all rights reserved
SydhavsKongen
0_o Perfect!!
UnknownSquid
Damnit. For a moment I got excited thinking of "vacuum packed for freshness!" labels, but then remembered that's other foods, not chips. : /
EccentricNimoy
@Planetarysociety plz???
ThatITdude
I already want them http://procrasti-nation.eu/wp-content/uploads/Shut-up-and-take-my-money.jpg
thegriffin88
I smell a start-up! And chips. Fuck, I'm hungry.
HannibalHoseth
That name may be misleading to a few
Gguyer
Even better: NASA buys out Sun Chips; rebrands to Galaxy Chips. 'Donates' most of profit to space and deep sea exploration.
GhostGuy
Or Sol Chips
Stache13081
They'll have to send the Sun-Rover at night though, right? -I used to be a blond guy.
KuuroiYuki
Bonus: Every bag of chips has a smaller plastic bag in it that has a tiny rock from space
TheSpacerTot
Am I relevant?
CiaphasWho
We should also get Old Navy making space pants that half the money gets donated to Nasa. Peter Dinklage can be the spokesman.
MileHighLivin
Will they have shocolate spacechips? My dad has an accent that makes him pronounce "chocolate shake" as "shocolate chake" so for me, this
MileHighLivin
Was a very funny comment.
thorkild91
He some kind of Hispanic? Because that sounds similar to a friend of mine
MileHighLivin
Lol yeah. His dad was half mexican and spanish, mom was Ute indian
thorkild91
Well shucks. That's a fun combination.
CondescendingCunt
...now with 50% extra empty space in the bags.
Snooj
If it were a work satchel you could call it the Space Case.
ElecTech
UserSubterraneanHomesickAlien
Spacechips, taste the galaxy.
Orochizilla
Acera
The taste is out of this world.
KjTheLightning
chips as big as jupiter, and as many as the things inside saturn's rings. but in just one bag.
ashmenon
And the dip is called the Milky Way, right?
ashmenon
AND NASALSA. I FORGOT NASALSA.
UndercoverDumbledore
And Alien mash aka guacamole!
eetsumkaus
Got a friend here who doesn't understand what Spacechips is, and I can't seem to explain it to him. Anybody wanna help?
[deleted]
[deleted]
eetsumkaus
thanks breh. My friend totally gets it now and says to pass on his thanks
The22ndDoctor
Lego like set made from 45 record inserts http://shop.monkeybusinesssports.c">ps.aspx">http://shop.monkeybusinesssports.com/space-chips.aspx https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VZtXmZFed4
CallMeSleeper
So.. You eat chemicals?
UnknownSquid
Are you seriously trying to imply that you don't? Care to share what mystic immaterial substance you live on? Might solve world hunger. '-'
CallMeSleeper
Look at his alias/username.
CallMeSleeper
His alias is "eatchemicals"
CabooseKbuse
https://66.media.tumblr.com/727aca1a7996bc06469ee787f96b6d28/tumblr_o9hxtuFVq91ql6j3mo1_250.gif
TheMrBadger
If they were Cheese Balls, we could call them Spaceballs... don't worry, I can leave on my own
GoogleFucker
What about Pizza the Hut! They should get in on this!
Sugarcrotch
are you leaving for the store? i go with ya i wanna get some spaceballs
RepostSadistic
Heh, good one. I am coming with you
TheMrBadger
Are we having, the sex? Yay!
RepostSadistic
No homo! NTTAWWT.
WhatRaySay
GIVE THIS MAN A PROMOTION
Bmxtucker
And we need favourite comments
FartyMcDumpstein
IveGotJustTheThingForYou
That's... That's not a bad idea.
Nineteenletterslong
Imgur's marketing team is great, because it has thousands of employees that get paid in fake points.
Buckbeak1486
Spacechips! The Official Snack of Spaceballs Everywhere!
wackywoohoopizzaman
CaptainMalcolmReynoldsIsWhatINamedMyDog
I need context for this gif, because there are few things that would get a reaction like this from Ron Swanson. Id guess breakfast food
SHOWMETHERICE
Thats it. @nasa get this shit done.
iHveNoCleverName
tehzpoon
@nasa pls
muleFUEL
@nasa do it!
KrustyKrabPizzaa
@nasa plzzzzzz???
madguy50
@nasa pls
PieceOfBurger
@nsa please
notevenaname
oh shit, they've gone dark on us!
QueefMuncher
No not them.
amishcannoli
Lemme snack
EccentricNimoy
@PlanetarySociety plz!!?
Hitlersbulgingmilkybreasts
@planetarysociety please Billy boy the science bro do it for
Hitlersbulgingmilkybreasts
@planetarysociety please Billy boy the science bro do it for
piraterobotninjacowboy
Being a Google know it all its cool but sometimes you gotta roll on their own ignorance.
NerdN1
Even if the chips cost more or were of slightly lower quality/quantity to offset the expense?
NerdN1
Maybe they could decrease the margin going to a space program to 10% or so to make the chips more reasonably priced.
spicefreak
I'd pay extra but not for low quality.
lLikeTurtles
Legalize marijuana, tax it and the money goes to NASA. The program slogan would "Get high, so we can go higher"
twfeline
Genius!
evildance2good
my man
lLikeTurtles
My moon https://awesomebitch.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/moon.jpg
Grimacin
Logged in just so I could give you an Updoot!
Cubez88
And you get an upvote! -Oprah
lLikeTurtles
inappropriateunzip
You're going to tax medical marijuana? Check mate.
TonyTin
Nice
IHateTrumpButNotYou
Yeah what has NASA ever given us? Other then artificial limbs, home insulation, hearing aids, velcro, smoke detectors, solar power. . .
twfeline
A chance to explore cool new places! A hell of a lot better than sitting on your ass, wondering what it is like out there!
willi828
...world stability via nuclear retaliation capabilities.
athaclena
Nah, that was a separate military program that predated NASA.
Dreamdayer
*than
SciNrd314
Integrated circuits, which led to the computer and/or cellphone you're using...
PrincessThunderBallz
Velcro was invented by a Swiss engineer who was inspired by burdock burrs and how they stuck to his dog's fur. I'm fun at parties.
IHateTrumpButNotYou
Damn! At one point I knew that too! Internet point.
GiantJessica69
What did NASA give us other than the microchips we use for most/all modern electronics?
kongfuchicken
...and you know, gps which is pretty much directly behind on the techtree line of the modern revolution that is Pokemon Go!
NotAgainRichard
Also an important part of the nuclear launch detection network.
schleppelthebogeyman
Brought peace?
inappropriateunzip
Whatever, I can get all that stuff at Home Depot.
AwkwardCouch
You forgot Neil DeGrasse Tyson.
DefinetlyNotARussianSpy
They gave us the Aquaducts... and the sanitation...
SubZole
Alright but apart from those what else?
DefinetlyNotARussianSpy
The roads!
TypicalGayMan
UNDYING DEPRESSION
Youhadmeathello
And Tang!
DankS0uls
If churches lost their tax exempt status, most would close quickly. Which might sound great to some, but they do a ton of charity work.
TropicLightning
They definitely need tax exempt status to do charity work. Jesus couldn't have done any kind of comm. service w/out a church building.
[deleted]
[deleted]
JessieJanson
Also worth noting, they can also just exempt churches that bring in less then X amount of money per year who have less then X number attend.
spiderqueendemon
As I understand it, the average church would get 501(c)3 status, the little bitty ones might struggle a little, and megachurches? Rekt.
coolluck33
Not as much as they would have you think (charity work).
thegriffin88
Religion isn't the only provider of charity.
khora
Perhaps we can invent a way to not tax charity work.
Mxtd30
Not sure why people argue for this when the money donated is after tax dollars anyways
khora
It's an income. Income is taxed.
Mxtd30
I get that but it's an income that has already been taxed before
khora
Company sell stuff. BAM VAT. Company makes a profit. BAM tax. The remains is paid as dividends to shareholders. BAM tax.
anhh67
They would not close. Too much money in it. At the same time the amount of money that ends up in charity work is a VERY poor percentage.
TheUsernameGothamNeeds
You do know there's not just giant mega churches, right? They don't have much money but spend what they have on the community
anhh67
I was, before becoming an atheist, a member of the finance committee of what you would consider a minuscule church. I stand by my statement.
anhh67
The smaller the church the higher percentage of money that goes to the preacher and education materials.
HolyCringeLordBatman
multimilion dollar mega churches with credit card terminals and jumbotrons.
HolyCringeLordBatman
I'm totally cool with only taxes churches that rake in serious cash. I don't think small community churches are taking advantages, only
MaSu10
yea pfff, charity work for ur mom prolly
thesixthcourier
There are several countries in the EU that levy some form of tax against churches, they still have churches.
failphins2
Not as many as they could. Starting new churches would be very difficult too. My church keeps many of the small churches in our state open
WhoPaidForThisFloor
True, but I feel like NA would need a sliding scale of taxation, like more tax for bigger ones and that would get complicated and difficult.
WhoPaidForThisFloor
Not to say it'd be wrong to tax certain things, but it would most likely not work in an 'ideal' fashion and thus the most vulnerable (1/2)
WhoPaidForThisFloor
businesses/persons would be affected far more than the things that really SHOULD be taxed. If that makes sense. (2/2)
thesixthcourier
I agree. But it's also not any different than how current tax codes impact individuals and businesses. It could all use an overhaul. =/
failphins2
as well as churches around the world, from Europe, to Africa, to Asia
thesixthcourier
I think they don't have as many churches as they could because the rate of atheism/agnosticism is much higher, and even for those claiming >
thesixthcourier
a denomination, the rate of active practice is pretty low, statistically. At least in Europe. The countries that you're church is helping >
thesixthcourier
are likely in Eastern Europe (which needs help in a lot of ways), not Denmark, Germany, etc
KillingTlme
http://projectcensored.org/churches-paid-taxes-enough-pay-food-stamps-every-person-welfare/
perlcat
As a christian, I'd prefer that no church get a tax exemption. I'm not looking for the approval of a group that can't differentiate 1/2
perlcat
between a suicidal cult and a group of people building a hospital. 2/2
zorakid
Easy to say when you're not on the elder board trying to raise money to fix your church roof.
perlcat
While I understand the desire for money, it isn't at all about money.
zorakid
Sorry, you just sound like someone who doesn't understand real world financial pressures, but is trying to sound profound on this matter.
zorakid
Not about money, but the desire to scrape by at any means to keep the church afloat, including utilizing whatever tax exempt you can.
MostOfImgurGenerallyPissesMeOff
if you exclusively learned about christians from imgur you would know they are horrible people who do nothing good for anyone.
MostOfImgurGenerallyPissesMeOff
surprised to find this comment here.
ArielUnderfoot
Guys Churches are a non-profit. They live off of after-tax donations. So why just churches, why not all nonprofits? Take all the taxes back
PeanutPirate
This is my argument as well. Are we going to start taxing donations everywhere?
KillingTlme
Because churches are not just non-profits, they are pushing an agenda through their non-profit status.
JeremyRedhead
I guess you're not a big art fan, huh? Nor a fan of helping the poor and old.
thatguythatalwayssayssomecontroversialshit
But...lots of churches help the poor and elderly
WeeblesWobble
Yeah, the problem isn't churches in general, the problem is in the insanely profitable super-churches.
failphins2
2) churches and the community through projects.
DeathtyOneDeathtyTwoDeathtyThree
My former church brought in ~$16M annually. ~$1.5M went into operating costs/etc, the other $14.5M went to charity work. There aren't (1/2)
DeathtyOneDeathtyTwoDeathtyThree
many non-profits that give 90% to charities. (2/2)
failphins2
I would agree with you that they shouldn't be that profitable, the churches that bring in excess should be giving that money away to other
AShartInTheWind
Which is why I believe this tax exemption should only apply to churches that bring in more than a set amount each month. Mega churches.
AShartInTheWind
I may have worded that wrong...only small churches should be tax exempt, giant million dollar churches should pay.
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gondring
Why should there be a tax on them at all? The money has already been taxed when earned by those who contribute. It's just people pooling $.
scnottaken
By that logic any business should be tax exempt. Income tax has already been paid, right?
gondring
Exactly right. Around the globe, governments have instituted multi-level taxation, and most people don't even remember pre-income-tax days.
failphins2
Government's got a good thing going, right? They make money when you make money, when you spend money, and when you die.
khora
Also, they make money. As in printing it.
stonerlibtard
I am not even remotely religious but I am all for tax exempt churches. If you took that away the churches that actually do good in the (1)
stonerlibtard
community would quickly close and those abominations called mega churches wouldn't even slow down.
gebsmith1
Losing tax exempt status = immediate loss of at least 30% of all charity work in the US. Yea, that'd be great!
khora
If only charity work was tax exempt.
gebsmith1
You're right but I bet a lot of people would donate less in fear that it would go to the government.
khora
If people paid taxes and government ran as it should, there wouldn't be a need for charity towards people in need.
gebsmith1
Utopia doesn't exist. Government is always corrupt.
Flamesonthesideofmyface
Yep. My church has built a hospital in Honduras, built a dream center here for homeless meals and mental/health needs, gives away school
Flamesonthesideofmyface
Supplies to kids who need it, does laundry drives for the homeless, donates more to ministry than it takes in for the church, I could go on.
Flamesonthesideofmyface
All I hear from people is "but churches should pay taxes" even though I've never been in a church that isn't open about their finances and
Flamesonthesideofmyface
Hasn't given way more than they take in. There's definitely corrupt churches but if you're actually following the Bible, you're a charity.
GodStillHasMars
Where is your church?
itsybitsyspider
Yup, I've been to some churches located in populations >5,000 people so the congregations are small. They can barely keep afloat sometimes
nativescotland
Yes. I know many people hate Christian churches but for the most part they do important work in their communities. For example my church <<1
nativescotland
has an after school tutoring program which helps kids in schools who don't offer that, which is most of the schools in the area because <<2
nativescotland
of poor funding. Access to tutoring is a huge step up for most of these kids who come from economically disadvantaged families that have <<3
nativescotland
been stuck in a cycle of poverty for generations. There's also support for domestic abuse victims, food for the homeless, and help with <<4
nativescotland
(2 hours later) medical bills. Our church came out and took out trees and built a driveway for my dad after he had a heart attack so he <<5
bufferkiller
What about the non-Christian churches that also benefit from tax exemption?
TheThoroughbredOfSin
Nonprofit guy here: its also worth noting, that the only ones that would close would be low income churches/mosques/synagogues who don't 1/2
TheThoroughbredOfSin
2/2 have the money/expertise to navigate complex 501(c)3 laws paperwork.
benisoyylmao
because increasing taxation is totally the solution to all of our problems.
Heavymettle
"If we tax religious tax payers twice, we'll have more money" -the guy in the post probably.
SciNrd314
It's more about WHAT you tax and WHO you tax. Why not an exponential tax curve? Richer get taxed more. That's why it'll never happen.
Tanwolf
The only thing that solves is the inability of Congress to cut their waste and spending.
twfeline
DECREASING taxes is the CAUSE of all of our problems.
TeddKaczynski
Are...are you serious?
CrimsonWilly
The put back into the economy bit is the best part, people seem to think we load the money in the rockets
gondring
There's a bit of Bastiat's broken-window fallacy there.
whatevsies
Well, you can legitimately question the enduring value of these investments compared to for example infrastructure or housing projects.
CrimsonWilly
True, but the real issue is defense spending, it's unnecessarily high and the real issue when it comes to the misappropriation of tax money
ThatOnePolarBearOnTheLeft
The DoD has about $8.5 trillion of spending unaccounted for. The Mars roverr is pocket money in comparison.
ThatOnePolarBearOnTheLeft
Source for that is here: http://www.reuters.com/investigates/pentagon/#article/part2
PaprikaSix
The more space stuff you do, the more innovation and technology you stimulate, not so with housing really
Badlyphotoshopedconfucedfloofygiraff
I like Jens, he seems to be the kind of guy I'd loe to follow around at parties just to hear him rekt people.
DarthDiggler
He could try with me. :)
IsDisassembled
I knew a guy like this. He had a smartass informative comeback for just about everything.
BabbidyBoopy
He's dead now...
TheAmbiguityShows
Jens is a pretty cool guy. Eh comments and doesnt afraid of anything.
Idontwearhats
"Did you just assume my gender?"- Jens
Elroydb
But he uses bad arguments :( One is unconstitutional, Nasa came about because of military (more military = more NASAs) and eating chips?
Elroydb
All he has to say is NASA is one of the few organizations where money in brings in enough tax dollars to pay for itself
Elroydb
The scientific breakthroughs have created many many jobs and improved quality of living of everyone
iamthemadz
How is making churches pay tax unconstitutional?
Elroydb
MuCulloch vs Maryland - the power to tax is the power to destroy
KotonoHanako
I need a friend like that XD
HD2composer
am I the only one around here that thinks "jens" is a woman?
NorwegianCzar
Seeing as Jens is a Scandinavian male name, I doubt it, but y'never know
fritzpimmel
This is the premise of Eurotrip all over again
HD2composer
Interesting, in the US and other places... "Jan" could be short for "Janice". '...the more you know', I guess
ErogenousEnigma
This is the dynamic upon with my relationship functions, he rekts people, I giggle.
nevereverstop
love*
dumpsterjuicee
"Rekt is past tense" - Jens
Xoneration
This is gold
BlackElkSpeaks
ModusPonens
It's actually usually a past participle
koopaya
That's a lotta adverbs. Rekt (wrecked) is only a past participle if the wrecking continues from past to present tense. That's uncommon.
ModusPonens
What? No. "Rekt" is typically short for "he/she/it was/got rekt," in which case it is a past participle. "He rekt his car" uses past tense.
koopaya
You can't infer extra words & call it a participle. In "get rekt" it is a participle. "Rekt" is not.
koopaya
It most commonly occurs with crummy passive voice, like "have rekt"
BigisDickis
Classic Jens
iarba
New meme alert
Coolex
lol
Felixdadawg
Classic Jens
Badlyphotoshopedconfucedfloofygiraff
Was having problem with wreck, rekt, was leaning towards rek, but that just sounds wrong. Jens, what's the correct term?
Mhodgy
I would go with "watching people get rekt by him"
norill
i've seen and used rek a few times, so it's cromulent
Owlsdude
SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT. Sorry, read Cromulon
MisterNoName
It really embiggens one's vocabulary.
Fairdinkums
"Why are you following me"? - Jens
fieroloki
rekt
alwaysmaccen
Haha classic Jens. So guys, what're we doing for Thanksgiving? Wanna set it in stone? And also, Christmas? Plans? ..Anyone? Jens? New Years?
TChallaVanDam
This was fun.