Tuesday, June 08, 2004

American Job Creations Act of 2004



This act*, introduced in the House, is a very interesting one. It has article after article of new tax relief for our poor suffering corporations. Even fishing tackle boxes are specifically freed from the horrible burden of excise taxes on their liberty!

But what really caught my eye in this act which so very hard tries to create Americans some more jobs are two tiny sections on churches. The first one of these is endearingly entitled "Safe Harbor for Churces". Yes, a safe harbor for churches is urgently needed in this country where horrible secularist communists are holding all power in the House and the Senate and rampaging all over the mainstream media. Just think of the Fox News and you know what I mean.

Anyway, the safe harbor churches now have is the one of being allowed to engage in political speech inadvertently without any serious consequences. Slip of the tongue sort of stuff. Anyone could be guilty of accidentally hosting a Republican campaign meeting in the church hall! So of course we shouldn't be such sticklers about the separation of the state and religions. This is a Christian country, after all, as the Texas Republican party so powerfully recently told us.

The changes make such inadvertent crimes something easier to forgive.
In the past, meddling in politics would have cost the church a fine equal to the maximum tax that could be levied on its annual gross revenues. Now the first 'inadvertent' meddling costs only the church the maximum tax on its weekly revenues! And we need to see three 'inadvertent' meddlings before the church loses its tax-free status for one year. Such a relief! Especially as the Republican party has launched a church-centered campaign in the state of Pennsylvania. This little amendment guarantees that any new pals the Republicans might make this way don't get their fingers slapped.

Of course, this has nothing whatsoever to do with job creation, but neither do many of the other clauses in this act. Mostly it's payback time for all that corporate support.


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*I can't get a permalink to the exact text of the act, but you can search for it at the website I link to. Here are the exerpts of interest from the act:

FROM SECTION 4955:`(2) UNINTENTIONAL VIOLATIONS- An organization described in section 508(c)(1)(A) (relating to churches) shall not fail to be treated as organized and operated exclusively for a religious purpose, or to have participated in, or intervened in any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office, for purposes of subsection (c)(3), or section 170(c)(2) (relating to charitable contributions) unless such organization or any of its religious leaders so participates or intervenes on more than 3 separate occasions during any calendar year. This paragraph shall not apply with respect to any such participation or intervention which constitutes an intentional disregard by such organization or any of its religious leaders of the prohibition of such activity under subsection (c)(3) or section 170(c)(2).


SEC. 4956. TAX ON IMPERMISSIBLE ACTIVITIES BY CHURCHES.
`(a) IMPOSITION OF TAX- There is hereby imposed on each organization described in section 508(c)(1)(A) which is an organization exempt from tax under section 501(a) by reason of section 501(q)(2), a tax equal to--
`(1) the highest rate of tax specified by section 11(b), multiplied by
`(2) the gross income of such organization for such calendar year.
The tax imposed by this subsection shall be paid by the organization.
`(b) REDUCTION FOR LESS THAN 3 VIOLATIONS- In the case of an organization described in subsection (a) which committed not more than 2 acts of participation in, or intervention in a political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office during such calendar year, the amount taken into account under subsection (a)(2) shall be the amount which would have been taken into account under subsection (a)(2) (but for this subsection) divided by--
`(1) 52 in the case of one such act during such calendar year, or
`(2) 2 in the case of 2 such acts during such calendar year.
`(c) COORDINATION WITH SECTION 4955- The tax imposed under this section with respect to any act shall be reduced by the amount of any tax imposed under section 4955 with respect to such act.'.