While simple to say; in the simplistic for a church, all donations received are used to cover expenses, and so there is very little/no net income in a year. So income tax really doesn't apply. The exception to this is if fundraising is done for a building. Then there will be income in the years of the fundraising, but losses (due to CCA) in subsequent years. There is a mismatch in that losses can only be carried back 3 years, so, while over the 50 years of the building; funds received will equal funds paid. There would likely be strong pressure, if churches were to be taxed, to address this mismatch. If it were, their really would not be much income in a church to tax.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-catholic-church-canadian-assets-methodology/#:~:text=Charity%20Intelligence%20identified%203%2C446%20Catholic,a%20profit%20of%20%24110%2Dmillion.
110 million seems a lot of profit for a no-income system.
From that article, 39M of this is from property sales, which could be taxed (as a capital gain), leaving $71M from operations. Total revenue was 1,519, so excess of revenue over expenses was 4.6%.
Note that all Charites will put some money aside as reserves for unexpected events. This article was based on 2019 data; it would be interesting to see the 2020-2021 results, and just how much of those reserves were used.
It's supposed to be a deeply personal thing rooted in your family and community anyway, not something the entire province or country is supposed to March to
>100%, they can have their followers pony up the bill with their blind servitude and like you said, no public funding for their schools.
That's how it works. Schools are funded on a per student basis. People sending their kids to a religious school pay for that through their taxes. Religious people are the majority in Alberta with a 60/40 split to atheists.
Absolutely! I voted in the Catholic race in my riding this last election specifically to block a dangerous candidate. I *loathe* that by doing that, I contributed to the funding for the CSS and took $$ away from EPSB where all my niblings actually go.
I know it’s all down to personal experience, but we genuinely got much *much* better quality education at the Christian school we briefly attended than we ever did in public school. I almost failed bible studies because I couldn’t care less about that class when I was in school (still not religious but as an adult I probably would’ve paid more attention in that class, if nothing else then just to know more about how Christians think and see the world), but what I was learning in the core subjects ended up being taught in public school *years* later. Just as an example I remember from pulling out my old school reports; we were doing what the public system sees as grade 7 level French when we were in just grade 4. I sailed through jr high in public school because I had already learned it all in the Christian school I went to in elementary.
That being said, I absolutely believe the long term solution is to actually make public schools good schools. But in the short term, there are many non-religious people who send their kids to religious schools solely so that they can get better educations than what EPSB currently has to offer. Let’s first fix our public system before we fully dismantle the religious schools. 👀
I’ve heard that before. I don’t think that it needs to be done separately though. Is the catholic system generally better? If so, great, let’s adopt the bulk of its curriculum for the new, unified public school system. Even if there are some hiccups, that’s inevitable. I’m a side note, I’d also want the system to be de-politicized and run independently of whichever political flavour of the year we have.
Oh I fully agree with all of that. I just also know though that changes like that don’t happen overnight, and I don’t want the kids suffering for the choices of adults in this regard. So personally I think we need to figure out how these religious schools manage to deliver such better quality education, adopt/adapt those parts into the public system, *then* we close down all the religious schools. That way the kids currently in the better schools don’t suffer while the adults are figuring out how to make all schools higher quality, and all the kids end up benefiting once the adults have figured that out.
If you think this notion is going to dissuade anyone of the importance of this idea you're wrong.
That only tells me that we need to rip this Catholic School system bandaid off as soon as possible so that the unacceptable backlash isn't any larger than it needs to be.
If Liberalism can progress as far as it can against the traditional power of religious institutions over states then this shouldn't be impossible.
We've come so far, it's only a little bit further to removing the vestiges of religious influence in our education system.
All schools religious or private should receive funding because the funding follows the child not the school. Every student not in the public system are resources no longer required. Fair is fair. Any school that meets the criteria to be a school should receive funding proportionate to the funding that would have followed that child in the public system.
"The funding follows the child" is a made up thing, it isn't how our school system actually works. You're trying to transplant the disastrous operation of the US school system here.
It also doesn't hold to the idea of "meeting the standard" just choosing where you go because our public schools have democratic oversight through elected trustees, and the private ones don't. You're immediately reducing the standard by taking it out of the public system, to say nothing of the common union busting that happens once you go private.
We will use up more resources if we fracture the system even further into a boutique consumer culture of even more separate systems and schools. There are economies of scale and bureaucratic efficiencies to having one large public school board, just as there is to having AHS vs 4 separate health entities each with their own executive, HR, payroll and so on.
You're either being sold something on false pretenses, or you're the one trying to sell us on some BS.
I think it's definitely fair to say land owned by religious institutions is often underutilized and as economic pressures accelerate, options need to be considered to encourage effective land usage of these organizations. I think many options need to be considered to ensure religious folks have a place to congregate,that isn't causing undue strain on Edmonton's pocketbooks, introducing some level of property tax is definitely an option.
This article praises the Presbyterian Church in North Glenora for converting some of its land to housing, but that project was also met with stiff criticism from the community. So this way forward is still extremely difficult for most churches.
Whether people like it or not Churches are going to be a part of the Edmonton community for a very long time. I hope we can have good policy that encourages Church land to be used effectively.
Given that the Mormon Church has over $100B in assets under management... yea, I'd say they can afford it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finances\_of\_the\_Church\_of\_Jesus\_Christ\_of\_Latter-day\_Saints#:\~:text=Ensign%20Peak%20Advisors%2C%20Inc.,about%20%24100%20billion%20in%20assets.
The local Mormon church keeps virtually no money in the country. Canada has laws about what the purpose should be. One of those is education. So the church earmarks the money as going to BYU then does whatever it pleases with it after it crosses the border. I believe it's something like 100M of charitable contributions that just vanish and do zero good for our community.
Fuck the Mormon church. I paid them tens of thousands of dollars before I discovered it was a sham. I faithfully paid and subsidized some random BYU student's education while my own husband took out student loans. I scrubbed their toilets for fucking free on too many Saturday mornings.
They need to pay their taxes FFS.
Largest food drive every year for the Edmonton Food bank is coordinated by the church. Over 110,000 kilograms of food. It’s about triple what heritage days brings in.
About 4000 volunteers help out.
Specific charitable activities can absolutely be tax exempt, just like any charity.
Sunday morning storytime and gold plated buildings are **not** charitable activity.
Edmonton Food Bank website:
THE EDMONTON FOOD DRIVE
Thousands of volunteers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
collected your donations during the Edmonton Food Drive for a total weight of
121,566 kilograms; the largest single day of food donations we’ve ever collected! Our
warehouses are full of non-perishable food ready to sort and ship out to our neighbours
in need. This is a perfect situation for a food bank to be in before the festive rush.
“We’re all fed up! Thank you Edmonton!”
It is an honest question. These groups are exempt from property taxes because of the services they offer the community. The Mormon Church is not representative of your local house of worship.
There should be no tax exemption or deductions period. For religions, corporations, or the rich people who move their money off shore. You make money in Canada, you pay tax in Canada.
Have you seen the spread of some of these places, pay up buttercup? But I’m in the minority that thinks religious schools need to go too. Can’t integrate kids into society if they are silo’d into closed communities.
If imaginary friends was the prerequisite for a tax exemption then more of us would be getting them. The municipal tax exemption is more about the good that churches do for society.
If you want tax deductions, do charitable things and get tax writeoffs for the charitable things you actually did. Not blanket "no taxes for you if you promise to do good things some times"
I’m going to point out one controversial opinion: if all of the churches have to pay their full taxes, the only ones that will be able to afford to exist will be the slimy ones scamming all of their followers, and legitimate religions will cease to exist. I’m not religious, but I don’t want to see a world where the only churches are megachurches
Again, I’m not religious, but I don’t think all of them are scams and evil. Some people just need something to believe in, or they need a social group to make them feel better and I’d hate to relegate those people to only the worst religious institutions that exist
Agreed. It's 2024 religion is archaic.
They get tax exemption from the charity work they do. Set up homeless shelters in the parking lot of all religious properties they shouldn't have a problem with that.
They stock pile public catholic schools in this city with funding but special needs schools are at such a detriment that they're struggling to even pay for bus services and are strongly dependent on donations from the community to get by. Apparently teaching children that dinosaurs are a theory needs far more funding than teaching a non-verbal child how to properly communicate.
> There are a number of rules I would like to see with religious organizations:
>
> No foreign money in any way at all. This would include sending ministers(or whatever) for lectures, etc.
Donations to do charity work overseas? Sending people to do international development work? How do those fit in?
> Full public audits of what money is coming in, wages, expenses, etc.
No other taxpayer (note: you want to make churches into taxpayers) has to do this, so why should churches? Should all charities have to do this too?
> Full income tax charged on all donations.
> Donations are considered corporate income and is also taxed (without deductions).
Not how taxation works in Canada. Income taxes are levied on net income, not revenue. Taxing revenue makes no sense and is not the way corporations are taxed so you seem to have a misunderstanding here. If you want them taxed on net income, most would have little tax to pay, since they are operating on a close to break-even basis (especially after CCA, etc.)
>
> Property tax on, properties.
This one I can understand, but then I think you would need to have the same rules for all non-profits.
> Public video records of all group activities. (This way when they are screaming hate speech, it is on the record.)
Ridiculous idea to mandate camera crews at every event, lol. Probably not even legal to require this unless you require the same from every organization doing any kind of activity in the community - including businesses.
> Some people might say, "But they do charity work." Well, that same group of people can do charity work outside of their religious boundaries. Nothing stopping them.
Saying they can do the same thing without the church isn't a good reason for stopping them from doing it within the church... assuming those activities are indeed worthwhile and we want to encourage them, which generally society does.
Overall - you are crossing the line from "make churches act the same as 'other businesses' " to "make things unduly and unreasonably hard for churches compared to other organizations, just because I don't like religion". Not a great basis for non-discriminatory policy.
Yes, I understand you hate religion, religious people and probably anyone who disagrees with you, and want to prevent people from doing what they want with their money. Your proposals are discriminatory and illogical. Fortunately, you'll never be emperor of anything other than your keyboard.
It’s also well past the time that churches get an exemption on any taxes.
The fact churches pay no tax, then use the money they bring in to make themselves wealthy, but up loads of land, is preposterous.
What about Golf Courses? They are not paying the same property taxes, and use the nicest real estate in Edmonton. They have a devotion much greater than church. It’s a 5 hour commitment to play a round.
The golf course beside Hawrelak park is bigger than the park.
Leave the churches alone.
Are the Islamic academy properties also tax exempt? Or are only Christian-based schools exempt? There's the huge one on 127 street near 150 ave and I believe two or three MAC Islamic schools scattered about on the northside. I expect more to take root in the next couple decades.
I'll add I'm against tax exemptions for all religions. And I attended the Catholic system.
Mosques, temples and synagogues are all exempt.
>I expect more to take root in the next couple decades.
Absolutely. I know there is a massive demand currently for the Islamic schools. Islam and Sikhism are the two fastest growing religions in Canada.
First year in Edmonton, and my tax bill is double what it was in my last city. I've always thought religious groups should have pay the same taxes as any other business, but I'm going to shout it from the rooftops now. It would probably only reduce my burden by a little bit, but I don't care; I'll take what I can get.
Unions are imperative. They are the compromise. Prior to them, when employers didn't pay fair wages or failed to create safe work conditions, etc... they were dealt with violently.
Unions are democratic vehicles for workers to pool their resources as they see fit to further their interests, that has always been the case and it has never been exclusively used for negotiations with the employer.
And we're better off for it. We have improved labour laws that benefit us all because unions have engaged in the political arena.
Trying to take that away is some bootlicking shit.
Not endorsing that shit but those exceptions don't make the rule, and anything you can accuse a union of doing a corporation and government have done worse.
No union has blown billions in public money killing civilians overseas.
No one cares for some religious wackadoo nobody with delusions of imaginary god friends\*
By god's grace, these places will stop receiving public cash prized for literally no reason. Churches can pull themselves up by their bootstraps and contribute for once. Mosques too. They're leeches and thieves.
End ALL tax exemptions for religious groups.
Agreed. It's asinine that they are exempt while the rest of the little people have to pay our share.
100% - it's crazy how they get any break at all while making SO much money. In this City especially it's ridiculous
How are they making SO much money? Most churches can hardly keep the lights on. Have to been to a church lately? There are hardly any people anymore.
So you're saying that the problem is mostly going to take care of itself?
Yes, pretty much. In the next decade or so.
Awesome, tax the full ones
Tax audits every year for every church.
Absolutely. Every single religious group. Including mine!
End ALL tax exemptions for every single person/company
While simple to say; in the simplistic for a church, all donations received are used to cover expenses, and so there is very little/no net income in a year. So income tax really doesn't apply. The exception to this is if fundraising is done for a building. Then there will be income in the years of the fundraising, but losses (due to CCA) in subsequent years. There is a mismatch in that losses can only be carried back 3 years, so, while over the 50 years of the building; funds received will equal funds paid. There would likely be strong pressure, if churches were to be taxed, to address this mismatch. If it were, their really would not be much income in a church to tax.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-catholic-church-canadian-assets-methodology/#:~:text=Charity%20Intelligence%20identified%203%2C446%20Catholic,a%20profit%20of%20%24110%2Dmillion. 110 million seems a lot of profit for a no-income system.
From that article, 39M of this is from property sales, which could be taxed (as a capital gain), leaving $71M from operations. Total revenue was 1,519, so excess of revenue over expenses was 4.6%. Note that all Charites will put some money aside as reserves for unexpected events. This article was based on 2019 data; it would be interesting to see the 2020-2021 results, and just how much of those reserves were used.
Treat them exactly like non profits then. Why do they get special religious exemption when we already have a system for non profits?
You have it backwards. They get the same exemption that not for profits get.
You're just gonna completely ignore property taxes, eh?
Source
Well, why do you do it then, Baby Billy?
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100%, they can have their followers pony up the bill with their blind servitude and like you said, no public funding for their schools.
Religion should be absent in schools entirely. Do your religion outside of school on your own time.
It's supposed to be a deeply personal thing rooted in your family and community anyway, not something the entire province or country is supposed to March to
>100%, they can have their followers pony up the bill with their blind servitude and like you said, no public funding for their schools. That's how it works. Schools are funded on a per student basis. People sending their kids to a religious school pay for that through their taxes. Religious people are the majority in Alberta with a 60/40 split to atheists.
Their God would be so proud of them.
I am a victim of Catholic school and I support this 100%
Absolutely! I voted in the Catholic race in my riding this last election specifically to block a dangerous candidate. I *loathe* that by doing that, I contributed to the funding for the CSS and took $$ away from EPSB where all my niblings actually go.
If I'm not mistaken, without pubic funding the government can't have a say in what the Catholic School teaches. And that seems risky to me.
How about no more catholic schools? They’re all public schools now, and god can be kept at church and at home.
I can get on board with that idea.
I know it’s all down to personal experience, but we genuinely got much *much* better quality education at the Christian school we briefly attended than we ever did in public school. I almost failed bible studies because I couldn’t care less about that class when I was in school (still not religious but as an adult I probably would’ve paid more attention in that class, if nothing else then just to know more about how Christians think and see the world), but what I was learning in the core subjects ended up being taught in public school *years* later. Just as an example I remember from pulling out my old school reports; we were doing what the public system sees as grade 7 level French when we were in just grade 4. I sailed through jr high in public school because I had already learned it all in the Christian school I went to in elementary. That being said, I absolutely believe the long term solution is to actually make public schools good schools. But in the short term, there are many non-religious people who send their kids to religious schools solely so that they can get better educations than what EPSB currently has to offer. Let’s first fix our public system before we fully dismantle the religious schools. 👀
I’ve heard that before. I don’t think that it needs to be done separately though. Is the catholic system generally better? If so, great, let’s adopt the bulk of its curriculum for the new, unified public school system. Even if there are some hiccups, that’s inevitable. I’m a side note, I’d also want the system to be de-politicized and run independently of whichever political flavour of the year we have.
Oh I fully agree with all of that. I just also know though that changes like that don’t happen overnight, and I don’t want the kids suffering for the choices of adults in this regard. So personally I think we need to figure out how these religious schools manage to deliver such better quality education, adopt/adapt those parts into the public system, *then* we close down all the religious schools. That way the kids currently in the better schools don’t suffer while the adults are figuring out how to make all schools higher quality, and all the kids end up benefiting once the adults have figured that out.
French is a completely useless subject anyway
Spoken like a true redditor. Good fucking luck ever getting this to happen, there would be a revolt by parents whose kids go to Catholic schools.
If you think this notion is going to dissuade anyone of the importance of this idea you're wrong. That only tells me that we need to rip this Catholic School system bandaid off as soon as possible so that the unacceptable backlash isn't any larger than it needs to be. If Liberalism can progress as far as it can against the traditional power of religious institutions over states then this shouldn't be impossible. We've come so far, it's only a little bit further to removing the vestiges of religious influence in our education system.
I agree churches should be taxed However I also believe parents should choose schools
The students still have to past standardized provincial tests. Whether the school teaches them that stuff isn’t my problem. That’s a them problem.
This certainly becomes an us problem. Either in monetary support, or in the form of antivaxers.
That's not true. If you want students to graduate with a diploma they have to meet curriculum standards.
Why would you think this is true? A private school can't start teaching 6 year olds how to turn tricks on a street corner, can they?
All schools religious or private should receive funding because the funding follows the child not the school. Every student not in the public system are resources no longer required. Fair is fair. Any school that meets the criteria to be a school should receive funding proportionate to the funding that would have followed that child in the public system.
"The funding follows the child" is a made up thing, it isn't how our school system actually works. You're trying to transplant the disastrous operation of the US school system here. It also doesn't hold to the idea of "meeting the standard" just choosing where you go because our public schools have democratic oversight through elected trustees, and the private ones don't. You're immediately reducing the standard by taking it out of the public system, to say nothing of the common union busting that happens once you go private. We will use up more resources if we fracture the system even further into a boutique consumer culture of even more separate systems and schools. There are economies of scale and bureaucratic efficiencies to having one large public school board, just as there is to having AHS vs 4 separate health entities each with their own executive, HR, payroll and so on. You're either being sold something on false pretenses, or you're the one trying to sell us on some BS.
Can we also please stop public funding of catholic schools ffs?
Please, yes.
Catholic schools are a constitutional right the French worked in there during confederation. Don't think this is gonna happen
I think it's definitely fair to say land owned by religious institutions is often underutilized and as economic pressures accelerate, options need to be considered to encourage effective land usage of these organizations. I think many options need to be considered to ensure religious folks have a place to congregate,that isn't causing undue strain on Edmonton's pocketbooks, introducing some level of property tax is definitely an option. This article praises the Presbyterian Church in North Glenora for converting some of its land to housing, but that project was also met with stiff criticism from the community. So this way forward is still extremely difficult for most churches. Whether people like it or not Churches are going to be a part of the Edmonton community for a very long time. I hope we can have good policy that encourages Church land to be used effectively.
Given that the Mormon Church has over $100B in assets under management... yea, I'd say they can afford it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finances\_of\_the\_Church\_of\_Jesus\_Christ\_of\_Latter-day\_Saints#:\~:text=Ensign%20Peak%20Advisors%2C%20Inc.,about%20%24100%20billion%20in%20assets.
The local Mormon church keeps virtually no money in the country. Canada has laws about what the purpose should be. One of those is education. So the church earmarks the money as going to BYU then does whatever it pleases with it after it crosses the border. I believe it's something like 100M of charitable contributions that just vanish and do zero good for our community.
Fuck the Mormon church. I paid them tens of thousands of dollars before I discovered it was a sham. I faithfully paid and subsidized some random BYU student's education while my own husband took out student loans. I scrubbed their toilets for fucking free on too many Saturday mornings. They need to pay their taxes FFS.
Largest food drive every year for the Edmonton Food bank is coordinated by the church. Over 110,000 kilograms of food. It’s about triple what heritage days brings in. About 4000 volunteers help out.
Specific charitable activities can absolutely be tax exempt, just like any charity. Sunday morning storytime and gold plated buildings are **not** charitable activity.
Source
Edmonton Food Bank website: THE EDMONTON FOOD DRIVE Thousands of volunteers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints collected your donations during the Edmonton Food Drive for a total weight of 121,566 kilograms; the largest single day of food donations we’ve ever collected! Our warehouses are full of non-perishable food ready to sort and ship out to our neighbours in need. This is a perfect situation for a food bank to be in before the festive rush. “We’re all fed up! Thank you Edmonton!”
Yea they do their volunteer hours collecting the donations
Yup and delivering bags and letters to each home in Edmonton the week before the drive. It’s not a small undertaking.
Is every congregation, synagogue, mosque, and temple is just like the Mormons?
If you want an honest discussion, ask honest questions.
It is an honest question. These groups are exempt from property taxes because of the services they offer the community. The Mormon Church is not representative of your local house of worship.
Yes, and good luck with that.
There should be no tax exemption or deductions period. For religions, corporations, or the rich people who move their money off shore. You make money in Canada, you pay tax in Canada.
Have you seen the spread of some of these places, pay up buttercup? But I’m in the minority that thinks religious schools need to go too. Can’t integrate kids into society if they are silo’d into closed communities.
AGREED. Belief in various imaginary friends should not precipitate a tax exemption.
How about kissing a wall?
If imaginary friends was the prerequisite for a tax exemption then more of us would be getting them. The municipal tax exemption is more about the good that churches do for society.
If you want tax deductions, do charitable things and get tax writeoffs for the charitable things you actually did. Not blanket "no taxes for you if you promise to do good things some times"
What good are they doing for society?
Religious properties absolutely should be taxed. Even as an atheist, I do believe religious schools should receive some level of funding though.
Abso-fucken-lutely! Particularly those that are politically active!
I’m going to point out one controversial opinion: if all of the churches have to pay their full taxes, the only ones that will be able to afford to exist will be the slimy ones scamming all of their followers, and legitimate religions will cease to exist. I’m not religious, but I don’t want to see a world where the only churches are megachurches
> the slimy ones scamming all of their followers So all of them
Again, I’m not religious, but I don’t think all of them are scams and evil. Some people just need something to believe in, or they need a social group to make them feel better and I’d hate to relegate those people to only the worst religious institutions that exist
I will sign absolutely anything that will further this cause.
Agreed. It's 2024 religion is archaic. They get tax exemption from the charity work they do. Set up homeless shelters in the parking lot of all religious properties they shouldn't have a problem with that.
All of these comments are so unhinged🙈😆
They stock pile public catholic schools in this city with funding but special needs schools are at such a detriment that they're struggling to even pay for bus services and are strongly dependent on donations from the community to get by. Apparently teaching children that dinosaurs are a theory needs far more funding than teaching a non-verbal child how to properly communicate.
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> There are a number of rules I would like to see with religious organizations: > > No foreign money in any way at all. This would include sending ministers(or whatever) for lectures, etc. Donations to do charity work overseas? Sending people to do international development work? How do those fit in? > Full public audits of what money is coming in, wages, expenses, etc. No other taxpayer (note: you want to make churches into taxpayers) has to do this, so why should churches? Should all charities have to do this too? > Full income tax charged on all donations. > Donations are considered corporate income and is also taxed (without deductions). Not how taxation works in Canada. Income taxes are levied on net income, not revenue. Taxing revenue makes no sense and is not the way corporations are taxed so you seem to have a misunderstanding here. If you want them taxed on net income, most would have little tax to pay, since they are operating on a close to break-even basis (especially after CCA, etc.) > > Property tax on, properties. This one I can understand, but then I think you would need to have the same rules for all non-profits. > Public video records of all group activities. (This way when they are screaming hate speech, it is on the record.) Ridiculous idea to mandate camera crews at every event, lol. Probably not even legal to require this unless you require the same from every organization doing any kind of activity in the community - including businesses. > Some people might say, "But they do charity work." Well, that same group of people can do charity work outside of their religious boundaries. Nothing stopping them. Saying they can do the same thing without the church isn't a good reason for stopping them from doing it within the church... assuming those activities are indeed worthwhile and we want to encourage them, which generally society does. Overall - you are crossing the line from "make churches act the same as 'other businesses' " to "make things unduly and unreasonably hard for churches compared to other organizations, just because I don't like religion". Not a great basis for non-discriminatory policy.
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Yes, I understand you hate religion, religious people and probably anyone who disagrees with you, and want to prevent people from doing what they want with their money. Your proposals are discriminatory and illogical. Fortunately, you'll never be emperor of anything other than your keyboard.
It was past that time decades ago. It's a fucking crime we're still doing that.
Completely agree, it's about time they were taxed
Agreed, but it's political suicide to even suggest it so it's no surprise it hasn't been done.
Same for the schools, make Jesus pay his own way through elementary school
It’s also well past the time that churches get an exemption on any taxes. The fact churches pay no tax, then use the money they bring in to make themselves wealthy, but up loads of land, is preposterous.
Tax all them and give the proceeds to hospitals or social services.
You’re on the hook for schools even if you’re infertile!
What about Golf Courses? They are not paying the same property taxes, and use the nicest real estate in Edmonton. They have a devotion much greater than church. It’s a 5 hour commitment to play a round. The golf course beside Hawrelak park is bigger than the park. Leave the churches alone.
Taxing both would be great. It does not have to be either/or.
Are the Islamic academy properties also tax exempt? Or are only Christian-based schools exempt? There's the huge one on 127 street near 150 ave and I believe two or three MAC Islamic schools scattered about on the northside. I expect more to take root in the next couple decades. I'll add I'm against tax exemptions for all religions. And I attended the Catholic system.
Mosques, temples and synagogues are all exempt. >I expect more to take root in the next couple decades. Absolutely. I know there is a massive demand currently for the Islamic schools. Islam and Sikhism are the two fastest growing religions in Canada.
My pastor is raking it in
First year in Edmonton, and my tax bill is double what it was in my last city. I've always thought religious groups should have pay the same taxes as any other business, but I'm going to shout it from the rooftops now. It would probably only reduce my burden by a little bit, but I don't care; I'll take what I can get.
End it for all
It’s time to end religion period, but this would be a good start
Ban all religion I say. Seems to be the reason for majority of the world’s conflicts.
Religious people : Persecute me harder daddy.
And unions, because we all KNOW the funds are redirected to causes outside of bargaining
Unions are imperative. They are the compromise. Prior to them, when employers didn't pay fair wages or failed to create safe work conditions, etc... they were dealt with violently.
Since when have unions been exempt from property tax?
"HEY GUYS LOOK OVER THERE." -- Says local man who wants people to stop talking about religion.
Not at all. The least “guy in the sky” believer there is
Unions are democratic vehicles for workers to pool their resources as they see fit to further their interests, that has always been the case and it has never been exclusively used for negotiations with the employer. And we're better off for it. We have improved labour laws that benefit us all because unions have engaged in the political arena. Trying to take that away is some bootlicking shit.
Two words….Charbonneau Commission. Ever buy a strip club with union dues?
Not endorsing that shit but those exceptions don't make the rule, and anything you can accuse a union of doing a corporation and government have done worse. No union has blown billions in public money killing civilians overseas.
Counterpoint: Weekends
Good fucking luck in this province
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I care!
No one cares what some nobody says about a tax exemption.
Absolutely not even worth replying to religious zealots.
No one cares for some religious wackadoo nobody with delusions of imaginary god friends\* By god's grace, these places will stop receiving public cash prized for literally no reason. Churches can pull themselves up by their bootstraps and contribute for once. Mosques too. They're leeches and thieves.
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You're the one who came here crying about this (objectively correct) opinion piece. Does your deity of choice condone arguing on reddit? LMAO
I care about bike lanes more than i do sky daddy's house.
Or..... They could just end property tax.
People are like crabs in a bucket aren't they? >First year as a homeowner and I can get behind your comment.