Atlanta Weather

| Traffic

Search
Political Insider

Georgia Baptist Convention urges ‘no’ vote on tax overhaul

1:00 pm March 30, 2011, by jgalloway

House and Senate Republicans are working furiously this afternoon to massage the proposed tax overhaul into a form that will fly with wary members of both GOP caucuses.

One reason for the sudden footwork is this e-mail from the top lobbyist for the Georgia Baptist Convention, sent to its massive network of churches:

The new Georgia Tax Policy that is being debated in the GA House of Representatives today will not allow tax deductions for charity or church giving. It is important that you contact your House of Representatives member today and tell them you are opposed to that change in the GA Tax Policy.

…It is urgent that you do this today and send this information to your contacts as well so they can do the same.

H. Ray Newman

State Missionary

Ethics and Public Affairs

Georgia Baptist Convention

6405 Sugarloaf Parkway

Duluth, GA 30097

- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider

For instant updates, follow me on Twitter, or connect with me on Facebook.

  • Print

108 comments Add your comment

SteveK

March 30th, 2011
8:35 pm

Churches throw the poor in Woodruff Park and leave them to beg on the sidewalk. The real help they need is never given – mental health and addiction. The churches just give enough to be able to market themselves as helping the poor but they don’t do enough. They have to keep enough money to build mega churches and support Repulican politicians.

Thomas

March 30th, 2011
8:37 pm

Government is our enemy! We are losing this war against bureaucracy everyday a new law is passed and signed. The expansion of Government has plagued our society since the date of inception.

shadtree

March 31st, 2011
9:21 am

This shows where the Baptist church concerns are, and that is for people to get tax breaks. Why are they not contacting the legislature about how the cuts are going to hurt people that are already hurting. The churches need to stay out of politics and if they don’t they need to pay taxes just like the rest of us

Last Man Standing

March 31st, 2011
10:00 am

shadtree:

You’re advocating bringing them into the political arena by taxing them? I am a life-long Baptist. I have NEVER heard politics referenced by any pastor of the four church’s I have attended throughout my life. My feeling, as is the feeling of most Baptists that I have talked with is that we don’t want preachers talking politics from the pulpit and we don’t want politicians talking religion from their office.

why?

March 31st, 2011
10:55 am

Who cares what a bunch of crazy baptists think?

Self_Made

March 31st, 2011
11:37 am

@Brenda and her obsession with the so-called “white bread” cities. I don’t have any problem with people wanting more of their government authority closer to the individual citizen. I DO have a problem when a community like Dunwoody ROBS a county of it’s most developed and economically viable area (Perimeter CID) AFTER the ENTIRE COUNTY has paid for its construction and development, simply because it couldn’t AFFORD to be a stand alone municipality without it. That’s not racism, that’s theivery.

Self_Made

March 31st, 2011
11:40 am

As for the charitable deduction provision…people don’t pay tithes to their churches because of the tax deduction. The tax deduction DOES, however, have a significant impact on what people give to charities like Goodwill, the United Way, and the Red Cross. Those organizations would be hurt by this provision, not the churches.

Bill

April 1st, 2011
9:12 am

Hey about this. Let churches exempt the amount they use for charity. Most churchs it is under 10% of budget. That should be fair.

« Previous 1 2 3 Show All