KareemAbdulJabroni
144922
2555
76
.015625% of $32B isn’t even a slap on the fucking wrist.
Most Viral Edit: THANK YOU, everyone! Seriously though, if Theists want to legislate from the pulpit, THEY GOTTA GIVE! Mormon church fined over scheme to hide $32 billion investment fund behind shell companies https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/mormon-church-multibillion-investment-fund-sec-settlement-rcna71603
BlairT1
How about a percentage versus a fixed fine. These “churches” and other corporate scammers would think twice if it was 25% of everything
brianingram
Proportionally, that's like $0.25 to you and me.
XRay0976
NOW DO THE CATHOLIC, SCIENTOLOGY, BAPTISTS, ETC CHURCHES!!??
ToonamiT0M
$32 billion, that we know of.
spaznoid
and the church help the poor......... after they line their pockets..
RCSpotz
Now go look at the US Congress members
CloudStrife668
Next up Scientology please.........
yourbassist
The SEC is so fucking toothless. Goes after pump and dumpers on twitter but slap the church on the wrist.
DontAskMeAboutMyUsernameOkay
... They hid 32bn so slap them with a 5m fine.. Logical. Because, they clearly won't be able to afford that and keep doing it. Nope.
comacomacomacomachameleon
honestly at this point $5 million a year in fines is just the cost of doing business
mastertmo
The only proper fine for this is the full 32 billion.
RandomGuy12345678910
64. The fine should be double the potential profit
TheFeralDog
There is no profit from this they made zero money by what they were doing All they did was hide how much wealth they have That's it.
goodtimehadbyall
If they are a non-profit, I have no idea what a for-profit is.
AskingTheRealQuestions
The money can't be taken out of the church, but it can be spent with few restrictions, so basically a tax exempt bank account/lobbying firm.
AskingTheRealQuestions
Billionaires do the same, btw. It's ridiculous, and they're even praised for it, as if it's altruistic philanthropy.
vlaurelrose101
I can't recall which comedian said, "If God wanted my money he'd just take it. My wallet would fly out of my pocket straight up to heaven."
NerdyNerdTubaNerd
The shell companies were taxed. The fine is for hiding the holding from public view. The investment firm paid 4M, the church paid 1M.
jargonmon
Like making $32,000 and being fined $5. "Oh no...whatever will I do if I get caught?"
faultysage
They didn't make 32 billion dollars. The total fund was worth 32 billion.
comacomacomacomachameleon
On $32 billion, you could invest it in a goddamn savings account and make more than $5 million
TheFeralDog
Again this is not about making money This is about hiding how much money they had scared of public backlash they made absolutely nothing by.
TheFeralDog
.. Doing this
heyguysimisaac
Wow Glad to see my tithing went to good use. What a fucking joke.
VibratingNipples
we need to end tax exemption for all churches, no matter what
MechKelly
A church with an investment portfolio is no longer a church. It's a business and should be treated as such.
CausticLemonEnema
Tax them.
layinginbedfeelinglikeaquesarito
The fine is small because the regulations haven’t been updated in decades and that is the max they can do
TheDogEnd
They weren't fined $5M. $5M is just what it costs to save themselves $32B
TheFeralDog
What do you think they were fined for?
VeryGoodLittleTiger
Most megachurches do this.
lurkerthatoccationallywantstocomment
Open up the books. Every single Mormon should demand to know where their money is going. But the cult won't
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lurkerthatoccationallywantstocomment
It's a step in the right direction. Start with having to file paperwork like other non profs. 501c3? Not a tax expert
JustDriftingAboutTheInterWebs
A little fine is bullshit. They should lose it all.
SavageDrums
And then some.
InspiredForestRaptor
If they dont. Labour prison.
InspiredForestRaptor
For all those connected to the money. Those that get the money can go to a nicer prison.
Topedo
It's off shore, it can't be taken. That's the point of off shore. Unfortunately fines are not made to hurt the big guys
worldwarzero
Bring it on shore, or no longer operate in this country. If you're an organization that breaks thr law, you don't deserve to be here
FenyxKnight
Fees are punishment for the poor
JustDriftingAboutTheInterWebs
They should have been fined the same amount. But you're right, big religious orgs and corps never have any real consequences. Us? Prison.
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JustDriftingAboutTheInterWebs
Yeah no. Should have thought about that before moving it offshore to hide. Slap on the wrist doesn't work if you haven't noticed.
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jonReremy9669
they should be fined the full realized & unrealized capital gains. if a commoner makes10k illegally, then 10x that. they lose the whole 100k
frozensoul94
Private churchs under a certain seating amount should be tax free, mega churches definitely should pay tax.
jonReremy9669
*All* pls fix thx -sent from my iphone
quork10
At first I was like, "they're ALL for profit" but then I thought about how much good some of the churches do for people, I was like, 1/2
quork10
"yeah, you're right". Thanks for changing my mind
usernameusedinlessplatforms2
Even then if the church helps a ton of ppl and profit 10M$ yearly they afford to pay tax. If they prodit 1000$ they afford to pay tax,
usernameusedinlessplatforms2
Latter one is just under the 0% tax bracket so they pay nothing. Taxes would give extra incentive to use the money to help the ppl etc.
dbox
I'm atheist and I give to my wife's small church. I know they help people who need it often.
frozensoul94
The ones who have schools and outreach in theory are decent.
dbox
I have no desire to fund 'schools', that's more indoctrination.
frozensoul94
Sorry, meant to say daycare. Also I'm agnostic as fuck.
JustFeedMePieDammit
5 million is only 0.5% of how much money they made doing this
TheFeralDog
They didn't make it because they hid it.
Draenic
Off by a few decimals. OP has the right number at 0.016%
pixelsnader
O.03%, actually. So 0.05 is (in terms of exponents or order-of-magnitude) closer.
JustFeedMePieDammit
Egads you’re right! I missed that bit
mesogiria
They didn't make any money directly by the scheme, this wasn't a tax issue at all. They concealed the assets to avoid negative publicity,
Hevach
They make billions a year on it. A huge portion of the $32b in 2018, $100b in 2020, $186b in 2022 was in profit shares of major corporations
Hevach
The entire reason it's so extensive is that they allow wealthy members to permanently tithe by giving 10% of their profit stakes, giving/
Hevach
The church 10% of the income but sometimes retaining voting rights on that 10%
mesogiria
not to avoid paying taxes on them.
Froggie243
What does a church need with 32 billion??
TripUpStairs
To do good works!/s
Hevach
32 billion in 2018. 100 billion in 2020. "They didn't make any money" is bullshit because a lot of the amount is explicitly in profit shares
mesogiria
Yes, that's the point. They didn't want people asking that question and making them look bad.
typicallurkerlikelyshitposter
They make them look bad. Just like every other church.
thatsbadmmkay
Sounds like being openly fraudulent is a sustainable business model for the rich.
pleaseconsiderthatImightbejoking
being rish is a sustainable business model for the rich
mjkwho
Now that we see what they did, check all the other churches for similar things and get all those corrupt ppl
metrognome11
They should lose tax exemption
nevergoingtogiveyouupnevergoingtoletyoudown
Clearly they are not if they had to hide it.
AlmightyThor117
Along with all other churches
deadpool381
milkmyrod
The irony in this comment...."dear god". Lol
TheFeralDog
capital gains, so this wouldn't effect that anyway
CoachMcgurl
Hell this is basically how the Chruch of Scientology gained tax exemption. Or at least how the process started.
ShoofNuffin
idiotsonfire
Nothing should be tax exempt except people receiving disability payments or SSI checks.
ageek3000
....and low income people/families.
shakefu
Maybe direct gov’t employees’ salaries?
jesuisgur
No, it show they are treated like others, and also if you have other entries, it just ads up.
idiotsonfire
Why? Why does working for the government entitle someone to be tax exempt, barring military members deployed outside of US territories?
Valthek
Because you're doing a circular operation. Get paid, pay taxes, taxes pay for your wages (in part). Might as well skip the middleman
idiotsonfire
Why the fuck would I submit an idea that Marjorie Taylor Greene's toadies get to be untaxed just because they work for the stupidest rep?
shakefu
Because that money is paid from taxes. It’s inefficient to dole out money to immediately withhold it. You would just adjust salary.
idiotsonfire
Why the FUCK would I exempt a member of Mitch McConnell's staff from paying taxes and just lower the salary? They work on US soil.
kriswinters
Oh, no. They were fined $5M.
samthenerdy
Church was fined $1mil officially, the LLC is dinged for the rest. I call https://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/2023/34-96951.pdf
ElbowDeepInUserSub
"...anyway."
ThrobbinHoodz
drok302
/gallery/pSfeUk4
mymustachecallstheshots
Right. Fuck that is so weak that it probably just encouraged them to do it more.
thekeyofe
That's 0.015%. That's a rounding error.
NullNameAvailable
0.0156 rounds to 0.016 (and THAT'S a rounding error) but still.
NullNameAvailable
Fractional pennies on the dollar to do illegal shit is the kind of crimes only the rich can get away with...
servingmytimeinusersub
0.015625%
DigitalPizza
Them: Shucks. Two seconds worth of income, shot to hell.
VitaminBeaPositive
How have people not burned this shit down yet?
CouldCareLessButDoesnt
AGiantNun
My calculator literally couldn’t handle the math
braggadocious
.016%…what horseshit. That’s a fee not a fine
moodring
Anyway...
pm1001
Gasp that almost 0.2%.
Daemencer
Yeah wasn't expecting the amount to be 0.015% of the amount. It's ridiculous
TheFeralDog
Don't worry their lawyers will get that dropped to 500k
akambe
That's like a $500 fine for hiding a $5mil fund. Not even a slap on its wrist.
RedDDarko
Far less than a normal tax rate would be
BORGALOOGIE
Maveric315
MrMattster
Some maths problems there, chief. Looks like you've gone 5m÷32b ÷100, instead of the last being ×100 to make a percentage
Maveric315
TheFeralDog
You didn't pass math class did you...
lurkerthatoccationallywantstocomment
Club Mormon. 10% and you're in
GigiDundas
Grew up in that bullshit and I never saw a penny of mormon money spent on charity or community.
JayFnord
Well. They are hoarding their wealth. Very saintly. Very Christian.
FenyxKnight
I did, technically, but for claiming to follow Jesus they certainly horde riches. Glad I got out, better late than never
lurkerthatoccationallywantstocomment
Same. I do remember having to clean up the church parking lot when I was in the cub scouts
FrenziiTheSuccubus
Yep, I even remember being dragged into doing "volunteer work" for them by my parents.
TheFeralDog
They give around 1 billion in charity annually. Not great for their wealth, but not bad.
collectionofdna
That's, unfortunately, false. They claim $1 billion over 12 years, but investigation says about 15% of that
collectionofdna
https://amp.smh.com.au/national/mormon-church-invests-billions-of-dollars-while-grossly-overstating-its-charitable-giving-20220927-p5blbc.ht
Hereagain
Given that their religion tells them to live in poverty, it's fucking bad. It's really fucking bad.
TheFeralDog
It doesn't tell them that
omnipotentpasta
Still cheaper than paying taxes.
mesogiria
They didn't have to pay taxes on it in the first place, nothing about this was a tax issue.
yourmomscheese
I think that’s kind of the point
iquestionthepinappleeveryday
Isn’t everything about this a tax issue?
mesogiria
No, it was about disclosure. They didn't want people to know the size of their portfolio.
ATragicallyCringeYahooID
If they started having to pay taxes, it would include property tax.