Theos-Talk Archives (February 1998 Message tl00147)

In message <34EB2ED3.1420FE52@sprynet.com>, Bart Lidofsky
<bartl@sprynet.com> writes
>> I think yours is a
>> *misleading* designation - Joe and Jane public, seeing this, will assume
>> a religious purpose behind your Lodge, you may be sure.  This is not to
>> question your motives as truth-seekers, of course.
>
>    We were grilled very closely by a New York State court (at a time when
>New York
>State was looking at ways of gaining new tax revenues by going after small
>organizations taking religious tax exemptions).

I bet you were!  Joe and Jane public are unlikely to grill you so closely,
so my opinion stands.  To an average seeker, to say that you are a
religious educational organization *will* suggest a religion or religious
organisation behind it. *Is this registration made widely know to the
general public of NY in your literature?*  In the case of my old lodge,
no one was ever told of their denominational registration, the only
purpose of which was, in my opinion, to deny the local authority its tax.

> The judge agreed with us.

On a technicality, it seems - "small organizations taking *religious* tax
exemptions." [your words, my emphasis].  I'm sorry, but it looks like a
tax avoidance mechanism to me.

Alan :-(
---------
THEOSOPHY INTERNATIONAL: Working for a New Age:
http://www.nellie2.demon.co.uk/
E-mail: TI@nellie2.demon.co.uk