[DATA] Opinions Thread -- legal marijuana, abortion, and universal healthcare

[hillkill]

next opinion do donald Annoying Orange

[Ad Bot]

[bigcapitalbaka]

yes animal testing
yes school uniforms except ask the school first
yes church task exemption

[Jubel]

if we test makeup on dogs they'll look like a bunch of hookers and i have to support that cause

[Headcrab Zombie]

fair point, but bigger churches that do actually sell stuff (concessions, souvenirs, etc) should be taxed

There's plenty of non profits that sell products.
One of the most obvious I can think of is the Girl Scouts. I don't even need to say what they sell, everyone knows them.

Why would you ever tax an institution that doesn't even have its workers on a paycheck?

This isn't necessarily true either
http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Industry=Church/Salary
Again, churches are non profits like any other non profit, and not profits are businesses like any other business, just slightly different end goal and tax regulations. Paid employees, profits, etc, everything still exists in any non profit.
There are many non profits, especially tiny scale ones, that are entirely volunteer ran, but most  nonprofits have some paid workers, even if it's just the higher ups


I think everyone saying no to church tax exemption is just doing it out of spite for the religion. I'm not a fan of them either, but you have to recognize that they operate the same way as any other non profit

[ABlockOfCheese]

For everyone saying "churches are businesses and should be taxed as businesses" you should also be saying that about ALL non profits.  Yes there are churches out there that are violating regulations and getting away with it when they should be losing their tax exempt status, but for the most part they operate just like every other non profit and should be treated accordingly.

[KentMansleyDaBoss]

For everyone saying "churches are businesses and should be taxed as businesses" you should also be saying that about ALL non profits.  Yes there are churches out there that are violating regulations and getting away with it when they should be losing their tax exempt status, but for the most part they operate just like every other non profit and should be treated accordingly.

How would you know? You're a simple block of cheese.

[McJob]

Animal Testing: Yes, but I do believe that we should at least have standards and quality control for the testing process to reduce any unnecessary cruelty towards lab animals, and that we should only be testing on animals that were raised in the lab environment (no ferals or domesticated pets). Even I, someone who isn't too fond of animals, still think that we do need to treat them with the same care and respect we'd give each other; the difference being that a human life is generally more valuable to society than a lab-animal life.

School Uniforms: As somebody who wore a uniform for my entire Primary/Secondary school life (13 loving years), can confirm that it's not necessary and encourages breaking the rules rather than following them. Outside of sports uniforms, normal uniforms can be uncomfortable, an extreme pain to clean, difficult to "assemble" (uniforms usually involve a lot of different layers) and offer no productive benefits. They're entirely to enhance the image of the school and make the school look "professional", which is why it's only private schools who enforce uniform policy, since public schools are going to get students either way while private schools have to actually sell themselves to parents.

Church Tax Exception: Undecided. I didn't care to study the Church's financial structure growing up, and I still don't care now.

[ABlockOfCheese]

How would you know? You're a simple block of cheese.

stuff im caught

[Headcrab Zombie]

The term "non profit" is a bit of a misnomer, because they still need to make a profit. If they operate at a loss, then they'll go under just like any business.

All you need to do is have a specific purpose (one that fits within a defined list), and then follow some regulations, and you can file for non profit tax exemptions. Then, everything's mostly the same. You can sell products/services, pay your employees 6-7 digit salaries, etc.

If you don't agree with that, you should be advocating to reform the entire system, not just a specific industry.
But even that's hard to advocate for. Because they need to sell things, just like a business, to have income to operate with. And they need to pay competitive wages, or people will just work elsewhere that will pay more

[BluetoothBoy]

The biggest problem with church task exemption is that nowadays we have these things known as megachurches. Unlike traditional churches, although they wouldn't have you believe it, many of them ARE trying to make a profit - a big one - instead of trying to simply be a church. So, in my mind, there has to be some sort of line, similar to how if you only make a certain amount or are of a certain age, you are exempt from some taxes. But by no means should all, or even most churches be taxed. A good portion of the churches in the US would be shut down because they couldn't handle the financial strain.

[Headcrab Zombie]

The biggest problem with church task exemption is that nowadays we have these things known as megachurches. Unlike traditional churches, although they wouldn't have you believe it, many of them ARE trying to make a profit - a big one - instead of trying to simply be a church. So, in my mind, there has to be some sort of line, similar to how if you only make a certain amount or are of a certain age, you are exempt from some taxes. But by no means should all, or even most churches be taxed. A good portion of the churches in the US would be shut down because they couldn't handle the financial strain.

I suppose I wouldn't be opposed to a tiny % tax rate on gigantic non profits, as long as it can be proven it wouldn't hurt them, and as long as it applies to all non profits equally

[Tayasaurus]

Tax churches cus i don't like religion and i'm biased like that

[Niff]

I support  animal testing to an extent, and school uniforms to an extent

I support the tax exception 100%

[Zloff]

animal testing - not really, no

school uniforms - no no no no

taxing churches - basically what bluetooth/headcrab said, which is ultimately a yes

[Jairo]

next opinion do donald Annoying Orange

if you guys wanna suggest opinion topics, feel free