Bill Maher says there are many huge billion-dollar corporations that manage to pay no federal taxes. But on “Tax Day,” Americans should also remember the many, many, religious institutions will pay no taxes at all. The comedian and pundit told his audience:
“Now that it’s April 15, all U.S. taxpayers must call out all the deadbeats who ride for free – which includes giant corporations like GM and United Airlines, which this year are going to pay no taxes.”
There are 300,000 religious congregations in this country that pay no taxes –no federal, state, local, income, sales, or property taxes – and they own $600-billion in property.
Maher, host of “Real Time With Bill Maher,” noted that Scientology (which has only about 30,000 members) owns billions in real estate. Also, since it’s inception, religion has become much less popular. That is particularly true with younger people, with 35-percent of young people wanting nothing to do with it. Maher also noted that atheists, agnostics, and those opposed to organized religion, are now the second largest denomination in America.
Maher continued by saying:
“That means almost a quarter of us are being forced to subsidize a myth we’re not buying into. If we levy taxes – ‘sin taxes,’ they call them – on things that are bad, to get people to stop doing them, why, in heaven’s name, don’t we tax religion? It is a sexist, homophobic, magic act that’s been used to justify everything from genital mutilation to genocide.”
“You want to raise the tax on tobacco so kids don’t get cancer? Ok, but let’s put one on Sunday schools, so they don’t get stupid. Americans are losing their religion, because they’re catching on that religions do much more harm than good. Who enabled child sex abuse for centuries? What’s the common thread between ISIS, al Qaeda, Boko Haram, and most other terrorist groups in the world?
“Who’s behind the new law in Mississippi that says that Mississippi now cannot force a baker to bake for a gay wedding?”
The host concluded that it’s the same “religious freedom“ people, that last year passed a law in Indiana that allowed restaurants to refuse to feed gay people, who are doing exactly as Jesus would have wanted. He joked that:
“You gay people hungry? Well, you should have thought of that before you embarked on your life of satanic perversions.”
Maher may add some humor to issues he comments on, but in this case, pointing out the hypocrisy of religious groups and the politicians they support hits the nail on the head. Which presidential candidate – from Donald Trump to Bernie Sanders – would dare make such a statement during this primary season?
Featured image via Evelyn Proimos, available under a Creative Commons Attribution- 2.0 Generic Noncommercial license.
