Liberals and Romney's taxes

[PaulS]

Originally Posted by justplugit

Church is a legitmate deduction open to everyone including Joe.

It has been shown over and over that conservatives are more charitable
in giving $ than the Libs.

He certainly should have given more (esp. being a politician).

I wonder if you took the self serving $ out if the statement would be true? I know a large % of my annual donations are given to my church.

My church just built a new hall and is building a new gym. Why should I be allowed to deduct my $ for a donation that I'm going to benefit from and which no one other than church members are going to use? I might drop my gym membership to go there to work out.


Edit - I'm not refering to all church donations since churches and various religious groups obviously give many $ to various organizations.

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by PaulS

He certainly should have given more (esp. being a politician).

I wonder if you took the self serving $ out if the statement would be true? I know a large % of my annual donations are given to my church.

My church just built a new hall and is building a new gym. Why should I be allowed to deduct my $ for a donation that I'm going to benefit from and which no one other than church members are going to use? I might drop my gym membership to go there to work out.

"I wonder if you took the self serving $ out if the statement would be true? "

Your edit (that not all churches are self-serving) nulifies the entire point of your post. I have never seen any data to suggest that even though conservatives give more $ to charity, a lasrge percentage of that money benefits only the people that made the donations. You are graspiong at straws...

'Why should I be allowed to deduct my $ for a donation that I'm going to benefit from and which no one other than church members are going to use? "

Then don't deduct that donation from your taxable income. You're not forced to do that...

[justplugit]

Originally Posted by PaulS

He certainly should have given more (esp. being a politician).

I wonder if you took the self serving $ out if the statement would be true? I know a large % of my annual donations are given to my church.

My church just built a new hall and is building a new gym. Why should I be allowed to deduct my $ for a donation that I'm going to benefit from and which no one other than church members are going to use? I might drop my gym membership to go there to work out.


Edit - I'm not refering to all church donations since churches and various religious groups obviously give many $ to various organizations.

Paul, you don't have to take the deduction if you feel it's not warranted.

I belong to a small suburban church that feeds over 1000 people in the
inner city/month through our food pantry, provides shelter with member over night chaparoning, a home cooked dinner and a lunch sandwich for the homeless.
In addition our members have a yearly donation walk for Habitat and work building the houses. No gym needed here and I feel those works alone along with the many other things we do is a legitamite deduction.
Having been involved in these programs, working in the inner city, and mentoring kids for over 20 years, I feel that not enough is being done for many and too much
for the freeloaders. I am sure the local church, synagog etc. do a lot more good than
Big G just throwing $$$ into the fan.