Why should churches be tax exempt in the US?
They shouldn't be. The tax-exempt status isn't in the constitution, it's a piece of the tax code. It was put there under the assumption that churches would do charitable work that's good for their community. Because of the political muscle of religious believers, the IRS rarely ever actually checks to see if a church *is* doing any charitable work, and they grant the status automatically (especially to 'christian' churches). If churches had to open their books and account for their 'charitable work,' a great many of them would be shown to be complete scams, or not doing any decent amount of charitable work with the money they take in. Those churches that do little or no charitable work should indeed lose their tax-exempt status. There's no reason they shouldn't be taxed like any other profit-oriented enterprise. Peace.
Indians or first nation people don't pay taxes!!!!!?
Maybe do some research yourself instead of hoping you find the right answer here? Anyway, in a nutshell, as a part of various treaties with First Nations peoples (Indians, Inuit), the federal government exempts them from paying sales taxes on purchases made for their personal use. Once accredited as a "status" native, they have an i.d. card that they present at a store and the sales taxes are not charged. Yes, it's a bit of "white man's guilt" to make up for the abuse that was done to natives in the formative years of the country. Canada did not mistreat blacks or other ethnic or racial groups to the same extent that the country did to its natives, so there is no huge program of compensation like there is for natives. There has been compensation paid for discriminatory practices during the war years, such as the "head tax" levied on Chinese immigrants who were mostly forced into cheap labour spots, and to Japanese people who were put into detention centres "camps" during the Second World War because the government thought they would be more loyal to Japan than Canada (Japan was one of the "enemy" countries during WW2). But these types of compensation were mostly one time payments, not an ongoing program like with the native sales tax exemption.
It seems First Nations people are really peeved about this Bill C45. Why is the rest of Canada so apathetic?
The Harper Government wants the issue to be as hazy as possible, letting them get away with whatever they want. The Canadian Government has for generations relied on misinformation to deal with Aboriginal issues outside of the public eye. Do you really think that your average Canadian would have been on board with what was going on at residential schools if they really knew at the time? They would all have to be sociopaths or psychopaths (I get the two confused, but basically monsters) to be behind that. To most Canadians, they see First Nations or other Aboriginal protesters & they think something to the effect of, "Oh now what," or "Who really cares." It's not an uncommon human reality....I mean really, when peeps see on TV what's going on way over there somewhere on the other side of the globe....it doesn't touch them....if Canadians think these issues don't impact them directly.... I'm hoping flash mobs & social media will help bring a deeper level of communication....this really isn't a Native issue, but a Canadian one....
Why don't Native American's have to pay GST?
Taxes are used to provide services to the population. Native Americans pay for their own on-reserve services with the money Canada holds in "TRUST" Indian Moneys Program http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/br/bm/imp-eng... So if Native Americans live on the reserve they do not have to pay GST. But if they live on the reserve and purchase something off the reserve. Unless the item is delivered to the reserve, they do have to pay the GST. So for the most part they do pay GST, because delivery costs are more than paying the GST. . ------ ETA The belief that First Nations don't pay taxes is misleading. The tax exemption BrainDeadZombie refers to is property tax. Reserves are Crown lands set aside (reserved) for First Nations. That is the reason they are called "reserves". No one is required to pay property tax on Crown (government) lands, therefor First Nations don't pay property tax. GST is not paid if the goods are delivered to the reserve, resulting in “government property”. All government holdings are tax exempt, such as government organizations or military bases and reserves. PST is used to provide services to the residents of the Province. Since First Nations pay for their own on-reserve services (with their own money) they are not required to pay PST on or off the reserve as long as they can prove they are reserve residents. Any services to First Nation that are derived off-reserve are paid through “Service Agreements”, which are more beneficial to the service provider than taxes would have been. Tuition is one, which was explained in your other question. All income derived off the reserve is taxed, (Taxation is the same as for military personal). whether a person resides on the reserve or not, so yes many First Nations people pay Income Tax. .