Very Interesting….
Are they trying to have those organization STOP providing those benefits ?
Republicans have quietly imposed a new tax on churches, synagogues and other nonprofits, a little-noticed and surprising change that could cost some groups tens of thousands of dollars.
Their recent tax-code rewrite requires churches, hospitals, colleges, orchestras and other historically tax-exempt organizations to begin paying a 21 percent tax on some types of fringe benefits they provide their employees.
That could force thousands of groups that have long had little contact with the IRS to suddenly begin filing returns and paying taxes for the first time.
Many organizations are stunned to learn of the tax — part of a broader Republican effort to strip the code of tax breaks for employee benefits like parking and meals — and say it will be a significant financial and administrative burden.
It also means political peril for lawmakers, many of whom were surely unaware of the provision when they approved the tax plan. Churches’ tax-exempt status, in particular, has long been considered sacrosanct and Republicans are relying on the faithful to back them in the November elections…
I’m surprised. Unless repealed, this will cost the GOP som votes. Most likely, the GOP will just eliminate the tax and borrow more money instead. They are not called the borrow and spend party for nothing!
It was passed, eh?
One might think they WANTED it in there….
I think this might have been one of those “unintended side-effects” (be careful watch you wish for) that conservatives are always warning us against — in this case, perhaps, part of their long, long campaign (as documented on the Wall St. Journal editorial pages) to Defund The Left.
Now these Republicans find that the churches and congregations which supported them, and others who might be favourably inclined towards them, have become Collateral Damage in this war on liberal and pro-labor contributions (also a primary reason for the right-wing campaigns to reduce or eliminate union dues; cf. a front-page article in Monday’s New York Times about last week’s Supreme Court decision in Janus v. AFSCME).
Do local Democrats use this as hammer?