Well then there is this, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;" The 1st Amendment overrules the IRS. And even though we live in an age where just about anyone in government can create and impose laws on people, Constitutionally ONLY Congress can make law. Religion is exempt from any Congressional law.

The IRS, on the other hand, is a fraud that was forced on us by one of the worst presidents we have ever had, Woodrow Wilson. This nation was not formed to tax and control people to death. We never have a permanent income tax until 1913.

Taxation is theft.

So, you don't file your taxes? Asking for a friend.

The taxes are taken out at payroll, not when you file. The only time the government steals more of your money at tax time is when they didn't rip you off enough.

The ONLY reason why I pay taxes is because if I don't I go to jail. Why do you pay taxes? Are you under some notion that it is your patriotic duty or have you been suckered in that "fair share" load of crap? What did the government do to earn that money? NOTHING.

Did you ever look at it another way. If having 100% of your labor stolen from you is slavery then at what percentage is it no longer slavery? Is it 75%? It can't be that because even when there was slavery in America slaves were fed, housed and clothed. Some were even educated. So some of what slaves worked for they got back. So is it 50%? Is it 33%?

It can only be 0% otherwise your part of your labor is wasted on someone else. In 1913 Woodrow Wilson forced his corrupt progressive taxation scheme on us. It wasn't the founding fathers. They didn't believe in taxing income because it is bad for the economy and it is theft. We didn't have a permanent income tax for the first 125 years or so. Why do we need it now? All it has ever done is allow the government to grow obscenely large and tyrannically powerful. We have less freedom now then we did when King George owned us.

Not going to jail is reason enough for me, taxation being theft or not.

The only problem is that we cannot call ourselves the "Land of the free" if we are going to live under fear of jail for not letting the government steal from us.

The point I'm trying to make is that the irs which is a government organization favors the rich just like the rest of government does. I get making church work tax exempt since it is for charity but the personal assets of the pastors like cars, houses should be property and car taxed just like our cars and houses are. The way the irs comes down on us and audits us, they should do the same to rich church pastors. The irs should review what is church work and what is property and assets. But since those pastors are rich, the government allows them to go free. I bet they're lobbying or even bribing politicians

The IRS isn't in anybody's corner. They were created to control the people and nothing more. If anything they favor the rich less because they take more of their money than they do the rest of us.

I belong to a church that does not have a paid clergy so I really cannot speak about churches that do. Our clergy are part time clergy that have regular jobs outside of the church. And they do pay taxes.

But here is the point. Instead of trying to find ways to steal more money from the people why aren't we looking for ways to stop the government from taking as much. I really will never understand that mentality of seeing someone who isn't being taxes or taxes enough and wanting the government to punish them more. Why aren't we going the other direction and trying to make government more accountable to the people and get rid of taxes. We are sooooo over taxed in this country with income tax, sales tax, communication tax, federal excise tax, this tax, that tax, breathing air tax, tax, tax, tax.

Our entire lives are taxed and then taxes again over and over. It is any wonder why the rich have easier lives. They pay all of the same taxes and they get taxed on their income at a higher rate than we do but they still have more money. Whereas the rest of us schlubs are barely getting by because he have to support a very large and very unresponsive government that wastes money on studying why hair turns gray when people are under stress.

Instead of condemning Pastors for not being taxes, condemn the government for all of it idiotic taxes. I wish all people didn't have to pay income tax. It is our money. We worked for it. The forced to give it to someone else is slavery. The only difference between us and those that were brought here from Africa and sold to work on a plantation is are allowed to keep more of our products of our labor.

The vast majority of clergy in America are not rich. All you are thinking of are the mega churches. But if people feel it is their obligation to God to give money to their church and they belong to a church with a paid clergy then that is their right. You may disagree with it and that is your right. But you do not have a right to tell other people what to do with their money.

Before this nation decided on "In God We Trust" as the nation's motto there was another motto that they strongly considered, "Mind your business." To be a free nation then EVERYONE must be free and not just those you like.

Actually the IRS which is a government organization favors the rich because they give the rich a ton of tax breaks and refunds.Heck they even find a way to screw over lower classes and get lower classes to give the rich stuff even though they don't need it. Take nfl stadiums for example. Why does an nfl team that rakes in billions of $ each year need the taxpayers to pay for their stadiums? Why do rich people need federal loans to start their small businesses while they spend their money on fancy stuff? You can thank the Republicans especially trump for that, who literally rule in favor of the rich.

While your church doesn't have a paid clergy look up megachurch pastors Joel Osteen and Kenneth Copeland who literally scam their followers into giving them millions so they can buy mansions and sports cars. Those people arent fulfilling their believed obligation to God to give their money to their church. Their literally being scammed out of their minds by a con artist. But if they want to give their money to their pastor that is up to them. But pastors shouldn't abuse their church tax privileges. Property, car, and other asset taxes are not idiotic taxes. They're needed to maintain the infrastructure, roads and society we live in. I'm sure you or your parents (I don't know if you're an adult or if you live with you're a teenager) pay car taxes on your car(s), and property taxes if you own a house. Why shouldn't a pastor? Why should he report his car and house as charity or church work even though it's a personal asset?

There are a lot of people who believe that drivel. Here are the facts according to the IRS.

The bottom 50% of wage earners pay 3% of all taxes paid.
The top 50% pays 97% of all taxes paid. And of that the top 1% pays 37.3% of the tax bill.

So whatever you think about the rich not paying any taxes at all is just wrong.

I would also like to know how the rich "screw over the lower classes"? There is a whole lot of BS out there that people just accept and never think about. I used be suckered by that mindset. It is the same mindset that says the rich are always ripping off the poor or the big corporations are controlling everyone.

Have you ever asked HOW to any of that? I've never been screwed over by the rich. I've never been ripped off by the rich. I can stand in front of a McDonalds all day long and no one will force me to buy a hamburger.

Although I have asked that very same question about the NFL. There is no excuse whatsoever for the taxpayer to foot the bill of a stadium. They sell the idea do the cities as a means of generating a lot of tax revenues. The ones who are getting screwed are the taxpayers. It is not necessarily by the NFL but by the city governments. Sure the NFL initiates the deal but it is government greed that causes the problem.

The government to blame for everything. Corporations do not control anyone but the government does. The rich don't screw people over but the government does all of the time.

So what is the solution to the megachurch pastors who scam people? Congress is forbidden by the 1st amendment from passing any kind of law whatsoever against a church or a religion. If you bypass the 1st amendment then you end up harming millions of small churches where the pastor is not racking in the big bucks and is not living in a mansion. Plus you end up hurting my church and any other church that does not have a paid clergy because they had less money to help the poor with.

Any politician at the federal level who says they need more money for infrastructure is lying. They want money for something else. Aside from the interstate highways all other roads, bridges, etc are handled by the city, county and state. Infrastructure is a scam.

Actually all taxation is a scam. Taxation is theft.