Tax-exempt planes for Church leaders

Posted by Sarah Posner at 11:11 AM on February 9, 2007.

Sarah Posner: While media hacks screech about Pelosi's jet, televangelists buy their own -- with tax-exempt church funds.

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While the House GOP, the RNC and the Anna Nicole Smith-addled media prattle on about Nancy and the jet, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has filed an IRS complaint against Brooklyn Park, Minnesota prosperity preacher Mac Hammond. CREW charges Hammond used church funds to buy himself not only a jet airplane, but a stunt airplane as well.

Hammond, some readers might recall, last fall endorsed Rep. Michele Bachman (R-Fool for Christ a.k.a. R-Bush Kissed Me!), which drew the first IRS complaint CREW filed against him for violating the prohibition against clergy endorsing political candidates.

Luxury jets -- often purchased with church funds -- are common among televangelists. Churches receive donations that are tax-exempt to the church and a tax deduction to the donor. So when those funds are used to buy jets for televangelists to fly around in, taxpayers are, in part, footing the bill. Do you hear any Republicans screeching about that?

Tagged as: crew, hammond, bachman, pelosi

Sarah Posner is an investigative journalist whose work has appeared on Alternet, The American Prospect, The Gadflyer, and in other publications.

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Tax Reform [Report this comment] Posted by: NoPCZone on Feb 9, 2007 12:58 PM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] Remove the tax exemption from any property not utilized for direct relief/charity to poor people that is given without condition or discrimination. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] Simpler Solution [Report this comment] Posted by: eddie torres on Feb 9, 2007 3:00 PM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] Tell the following members of the Senate Committee On Taxation that ALL churches and religious charities should file an annual Form 990 information return, just like ALL other charities in the US. Form 990s for all charities except churches are available at publically accessible websites like Guidestar.org. Committee members are Max Baucus (D-MT), Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Kent Conrad (D-ND), Charles Grassley (R-IA), and Orrin Hatch (R-UT). Form 990 is not a tax return. Advocating its use does not mean America wants to tax churches. Instead, Form 990 simply requires any charity to report on sources of donations, basic organization finances, and types of charitable activity. Currently, churches and other religious organizations are not required to report this information (although some do by choice). So things like luxury golf trips, faith and healing seminars in 5-star hotels, support operations for political campaigns, and private air forces go untracked. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] » Why not tax Churchs? Posted by: johngary66 flying high [Report this comment] Posted by: 2bhuman on Feb 9, 2007 3:02 PM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] My favorite, avoid taxes slight of hand, is something I've heard of the churches doing in the US. I do not know if it is a legal practice up here in commie land (Canada) or if we just haven't caught on but it entails a local church making a deal with a local business owner to buy the business so neither one of them has to pay taxes. And this helps the poor...how? peter [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] don't forget that Scientology, Buddahists, and various and [Report this comment] Posted by: albrechtkrausse on Feb 9, 2007 3:15 PM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] sundry other religions as well as many "Foundations" use these tax exemptions for their personal profit and convenience. This is why it won't change. All across the political spectrum whether its Gates, Robertson, Ford Foundation, RedCross, Scientologists, etc. Almost all corporations (but even contract workers and small businesses) will also use these loops holes to buy their pick up truck, corporate jets, or have a 'home office.' [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] Why? [Report this comment] Posted by: Edison829 on Feb 10, 2007 3:45 AM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] In my Bush-addled brain, I'd like to know why any religious organization that backs a candidate, or publicly proclaims its preference on political matters, is still exempted from paying taxes? Has anyone ever calculated the amounts we might collect from these groups? I thought I had read that the IRS was "looking into" such fraud. Well? Should we buck the almighty religious institutions by taxing them? Hell, yes! At that point, we'd be able to cut the deficit, replace the money Bushies stole from Social Security, shore up Medicare and Medicaid (until we finally get universal health care), restore Vet's benefits, etc. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] Why exempt any religious organization? [Report this comment] Posted by: pocomoco on Feb 10, 2007 12:30 PM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] As a non-religious person , at least since I was 15 and am now 73, I could never understand why any religious organization is exempt from taxes. What makes them so special? Why doesn't the IRS take away their exemption when they stick their noses into politics? On Baltimore TV I heard a black minister state that he told his parishiners to vote for Bush. What more proof would the IRS need? Just another example of "selective" law enforcement. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] Go to You Tube.... [Report this comment] Posted by: johngary66 on Feb 10, 2007 12:37 PM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] and search Michele Bachman for a blatant example caught on video of the law being broken. This is one of the incidents the author is talking about. I don't see how there could be any question that the law was broken. May be if everyone wrote to the IRS they would have to make an example of this outrageous "Man of God". [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] » While your at it... Posted by: johngary66 » RE: While your at it... Posted by: johngary66

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