Fight to get Mormon Church TAXED!
We should all get together and find out where all this money came from to get Proposition 8 passsed in California and who funded the commercials in Florida. If Churches are getting involved in politics THEY SHOULD get their TAX EXEMPT status taken away. Hey, what better way to get our economy back in shape get some tax money from these Churches.
Churches seem to get the free ride when it comes to taxes and we all know they are dipping into politics way more than they should. They should be taxed just like everyone else! We at least need to make sure this is enforced.
We should have been undercover in the churches with small recording devices. We damn well should have been doing this.
I think the best place to make a donation right now is lambdalegal.org to help get the ball running on this. Marching and honking may make noise but the real noise is making phone calls and sending emails to people that can make a difference.
Here’s how you get it done:
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the “Mormon” or LDS Church) has gone too far in promoting the 2008 California Proposition 8, which would claims to amend the California state constitution to define marriage as one man and one woman in order to supersede a state supreme court opinion issued earlier this year. [Whether the proposition was a lawful amendment or a revision that cannot legally be made by a voter initiative remains an open question.]
Section 501(c)(3) of US Code Title 26, which governs tax-exempt organizations, reads (emphasis added):
(3) Corporations, and any community chest, fund, or foundation, organized and operated exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, testing for public safety, literary, or educational purposes, or to foster national or international amateur sports competition (but only if no part of its activities involve the provision of athletic facilities or equipment), or for the prevention of cruelty to children or animals, no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual, no substantial part of the activities of which is carrying on propaganda, or otherwise attempting, to influence legislation (except as otherwise provided in subsection (h)), and which does not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office.
(The “otherwise provided” clause does not apply, as the LDS Church, being a church, is a disqualified entity as described in subsection (h).)
The LDS church, through inciting its members to donate time and means to support Proposition 8 (resulting in millions of dollars of cash contributions from its members and countless volunteer hours), and in-kind campaign contributions to a group that supports Proposition 8, has now made a substantial part of its activities attempting to influence legislation.
You can help! Send the IRS an official complaint about the LDS Church’s activities, either by email, fax or US Mail.
- Prepare a copy of the Official LDS Prop. 8 Letter read in all LDS churches in California on 29 June 2008.
- Prepare one or more other articles of your choice (you can use these links, or do your own research) showing the LDS Church’s substantial activities attempting to influence this legislation.
- Prepare this Pre-Filled IRS Form 13909 and add your personal information, or fill out a Blank IRS Form 13909 from scratch with the information in the pre-filled form (these links and an alternative filled form are copied below in RESOURCES.)
- Don’t forget to date your referral at the top and include your submitter information. If you are a member of the Church, you may wish to check the box marked “I am concerned that I might face retaliation or retribution if my identity is disclosed.”
- Send it to the IRS, either by:
* Email: Prepare your documents as PDF’s or web links, and send your complaint form with supporting documentation to eoclass@irs.gov.
* Fax: fax your documents to (214) 413-5415
* Mail: mail your documents to
IRS EO Classification
Mail Code 4910DAL
1100 Commerce Street
Dallas TX 75242-1198
RESOURCES:
Official IRS Complaint Process for Tax-Exempt Organizations
US Code Title 26, Section 501
Official LDS Prop. 8 Letter
List of LDS Entities (Source of Tax ID Number)
Information required for IRS Form 13909:
Name of Referred Organization: The Corporation of the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Street Address: 50 E. North Temple St., Salt Lake City UT 84150
Organization’s EIN: 23-7300405
For Section 4, see the Pre-Filled IRS Form 13909, or write your concerns in your own words. If your reader will not open that form, try the Alternative Pre-Filled 13909.
Thanks to a formerly faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (”the Church”) for the update to this for us to take action.
All cults — including the Mormon cult should be taxed…they have violated the Constution’s seperation of church and State and must be held accountable.
Pseudo christians: WATCH OUT HERE WE COME!
I AGREE… What can i do to help, who should i call or email?
Completely agree! Let’s get this out there! Not just the mormons, but Focus on the Family, Pat Robertson, all those crazy radical Christian Right groups!
Thought I would just point out a few problems in your thinking here. As you see from the above mentioned tax exempt code 501(c)(3) of US Code Title 26, it says: on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office. Propositions and issues are not candidates so good luck with that one. Then there’s the issue of discrimination, which is your soul and lonely platform to stand on against Prop 8. Unfortunately, the California civil code 297.5 already gives domestic partners and civil unions the same rights as married spouses in California. So that’s not a very sturdy platform. You target Mormons because they stand for families (which you are all a part of), yet make up only 2% of California’s population (many of which are kids and can’t vote). And I’m sure you know that the coalition for Prop 8 was made up of Catholics, Evangelicals, Protestants, Jews and Muslims. What about blacks? 70% voted yes on Prop 8. Are you going to protest against them or Latinos, who also had a majority vote? I applaud that you are thinking of doing something within the democratic process, though slightly amiss. It’s better than those who are crying “end the hate” yet show nothing but hate. Or asking for tolerance and giving none. I would be embarrassed to be associated with such a group. I don’t see the same feeling from the Yes side. I don’t see them out trying to rub it in your faces or anything. By the way, No on Prop 8 raised several more million dollars than Yes on Prop 8, so it’s also kinda hard to say they bought the results. I’m sure your liberal judges will try to do something against the voice of democracy, they seem to want to make laws rather than just interrupt them as they are appointed to do, so the story continues…
Megan I’m trying to pass this around. I want to start a financial boycott in the USA.Please pass this to every gay & Lesbian site you come across.
I have no money to help so this is my way of trying to help.
I hope you will drop me a line now and then to let me know how things are coming with your effort.
Keep it up. IT may seem fruitless but in the long run I believe we will see our dream of equal rights come true.
Others may contact my at My Space below & please copy and paste thie below to an email to yourself then you will have it available to copy and paste when you come across a gay site.
I am asking that everyone stop spending on things that are not
absolutely necessary starting 11/11/2008 and continue doing so until we
have the same rights & benefits as heterosexuals.
If you don’t need it desperately don’t buy it.
Please pass this on to everyone you know and sites that may be
beneficial.
Thanks
Laura Stutler
central Illinois
http://www.myspace.com/laurastutler
So Florida and California have spoken, “No gay marriage!” Well, that’s not quite what they said, what Florida said was, “marriage is between a man and a woman and all other types of unions are invalid.” Hmmmm…is that new? However, Proposition 8 in California was all about banning gay marriage, since that state had already allowed gay marriage. In both cases those in favor of NO GAY MARRIAGE say that one of the reason’s they are against gay marriage is that is weakens the institution of marriage and that these are steps to strengthen marriage. Let’s see if they succeeded.
Basically there are two points to each of these Propositions:
1) Marriage is between one man and one woman
and
2) All other unions are invalid
Up until recently marriage has only been legal between a man and a woman, so no change there. But now we are deciding that any other type of union is not allowed, thus banning any and all domestic partnerships. You can read that as “banning gay marriage”.
So to strengthen Straight Marriage you have to do two things:
1) Proclaim what already exists (status quo or the obvious)
and
2) Deny the same rights you have to another group of people (ahem, didn’t we used to call this discrimination?)
Now if we take the divorce rate as a guide for the strength of Straight Marriage let’s look at the Straight Marriage track record. Over the last couple of decades it has wavered between just over 40% and just over 50%, depending on whose numbers you use and what conditions they use in calculating their numbers. Let’s just say that 4 out of every 10 Straight Marriages end in divorce, that’s using the “good” numbers. So almost half of Straight Marriages end in divorce. Now, let’s look at gay marriages. Well we’ve only allowed gay marriages for a short amount of time, but their divorce rate seems to be less than 1 out of 10 or less than 10% of Gay Marriages end in divorce. So Gay Marriage seems to be a long stronger than Straight Marriage.
Now what happens to the divorce rate when gay marriage is banned? Well, the gay divorce rates become 0 and the straight divorce rates stay the same at 40-50%. Hmmmm, comparatively speaking that does strengthen Straight Marriages because you don’t have anything else to compare it with, see those Propositions do work, comparatively speaking!
So how do we REALLY strengthen Straight Marriage, well that’s easy. You make sure that people who want to get married have really thought about whether or not they want to stay with the person they want to marry for the rest of their lives. And in America nothing strikes fear into the hearts of most straight couples than SPENDING MONEY! So here’s how we all strengthen Straight Marriage.
PROPOSITION 96
1) Couples who wish to marry have to pay a marriage tax of $1,000 each which goes directly into the Social Security system. NO EXCEPTIONS!
2) Couples who wish to divorce have to pay a divorce tax of $2,500 each which goes directly into the Social Security system. In the case of mental or physical abuse the guilty party is responsible for paying both taxes. NO EXCEPTIONS!
3) These taxes are due in full upon issuance of a Marriage Licence or a Divorce.
The goal of this proposition is to make people think. Too many people rush into and out of marriage because it has become simple and easy to do so. If there were immediate financial consequences to both parties involved it would make them think about marriage before rushing into it. In effect, many would have to save up to get married. This would give them time to get to know the person they want to marry and make a more informed decision. Likewise with divorce, since there would be a considerable financial toll many would think twice about getting a divorce unless they were sure it was want they really wanted.
Using very conservative figures there are 2 million marriages and 1 million divorces each year. That’s $4 Billion from marriages and $5 Billion from divorces or a total of $9 Billion added to the Social Security coffers EACH YEAR! Not only would this strengthen Straight Marriage, but it would also help shore up the Social Security system as well! Two birds with one stone.
What do you mean, that’s discrimination against straight people who want to get married? No, no, no, you misunderstand, we’re not discriminating, we’re strengthening! Since the next step is to ban gay adoptions and gay foster parents the government is going to have to spend a lot more money on the care and feeding of all those children. Not to mention having to pay to support them in jail when they grow up as wards of the state with no morals and no family and turn to gangs and a life of crime. So this is just a way of insuring that the government has the money to support these children.
I believe that everyone: straight, gay, bisexual, lesbian, and transgendered would vote for such a proposition, because it truly would strengthen straight marriage!
You see, the slippery path that you have placed your feet on when you decide to legislate discrimination. That sword has two edges, be very sure you want to wield it!
Your energy is to be applauded, but your understanding of tax laws is sadly lacking. The money in question all came from individuals, who are already taxed. Many, many, many non-profit or not-for-profit GNL organizations would of course also be taxed.
I AGREE… What can i do to help, who should i call or email?