FAIR Presentation Re: Church's Finances

[smac97]

Just posted today: Mormon Church Finances Explained

I'm listening to it now, will comment later.

He touches on finances generally, the SEC issue, the Huntsman lawsuit, the Church's status as a philanthropy, etc.

The bio of the presenter:

Quote

Aaron Miller (JD, MPA Brigham Young University) is a teaching professor in BYU’s Romney Institute of Public Service and Ethics in the Marriott School of Business, where he teaches business ethics, nonprofits, and social innovation. He is a coauthor of The Business Ethics Field Guide and the host/author of the How to Help podcast and newsletter (how-to-help.com).

Prior to teaching at BYU, Aaron practiced law in areas including small business, nonprofit, taxation, and governance. He serves on the boards of the Nu Skin Force for Good Foundation and University Impact. He and his wife Katie have four boys.

Thanks,

-Smac

Edited November 20, 2024 by smac97

[Calm]

Interesting.  The Church negotiated with the IRS to allow for missionary donations to be tax deductible where before since they went to a specific person, they would not be eligible.  So not just taking advantage of a loophole.

Church audit reports happen twice a year, which is typically twice as often as most organizations.

He explains the SEC ruling as getting a speeding ticket where the speed limit isn’t clearly shown.  He explains briefly why it was the equivalent.  The SEC will often overstate their cases in such releases (I think we discussed this here) so taking the release as purely factual is not wise.

He is very not impressed by the whistleblower report, especially when the guy blows off a question/mistake with the I am not an expert claim as the guy has had 3 years to get more familiar with the subject and doesn’t not appear to.  Miller appears to think (and I agree with him) that it wasn’t meant to be actually used by the IRS (and does not appear to have been used by the IRS), it was presented that way to get around the nonclosure agreement.

Edited November 21, 2024 by Calm

[Dario_M]

What i find so amazing about the LDS community is that they quite aften use their money to help the poor. The people who are in need of something. I've seen it up close. 

Plus...i heard that Utah has a good care system because the church is in charge. In other states where the LDS community doesn't has such a powerfull influence the care system is just not that great. And if you lose your job for whatever reason you're really close to end up on the street. And who is gonna help you when that happends? And you live in an area where the care system is not great... 😞