Tax incentives for Religious Theme Parks? · Page 2

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tailgater
Herf-A-Holic

12 years ago

#21

There is actually some up front expense for some local government entity. There will be infrastructure expenses. Water, electric, sewers, maybe roads.

What I would like to know and cannot find is are they filing for tax exempt status.

gryphonms wrote:

They will be getting a tax rebate.
Nothing tax exempt about that.

gryphonms
Herf-A-Holic

12 years ago

#22

My bad, brain cramp.

tailgater
Herf-A-Holic

12 years ago

#23

This board has become a bunch of uptight liberals. Well, except for the stark crazy religious right.

This is Noah's friggin ark. It's a themed museum or park or something.
It's not a church.
It's a for-profit venture.

Two years ago, a neighbor got one of those waterslide/bouncy house thingy for their kids birthday party. It was an Ark shape. With animals on the side.
I bet those kids attending were all indoctrinated in that highly religious ceremony.

I keep using the word "morons", but nothing else seems to fit when people get their feathers ruffled over something so benign as tax rebates used to lure a business venture into town.

teedubbya
Herf-A-Holic

12 years ago

#24

what percentage of the tax liability is involved in the rebate?

dstieger
Herf-A-Holic

12 years ago

#25

That government has more problems than some church/state disagreements if they think a fuggn ark is going to spark a flood of tourism to offset the lost tax revenue. What state was this in again?

teedubbya
Herf-A-Holic

12 years ago

#26

tailgater wrote:

Asked whether the park would try to evangelize its visitors to Christianity, Zovath said, "There will be an effort made to present the Gospel at the park. That has not been hidden at all from anything we have said.

sounds like more than a bouncy park.

rfenst
Herf-A-Holic

12 years ago

#27

There is actually some up front expense for some local government entity. There will be infrastructure expenses. Water, electric, sewers, maybe roads.

gryphonms wrote:

That is what "impact fees" are for.

victor809
Herf-A-Holic Topic Starter

12 years ago

#28

I keep using the word "morons", but nothing else seems to fit when people get their feathers ruffled over something so benign as tax rebates used to lure a business venture into town.

tailgater wrote:

Not sure who got their feathers ruffled on this.

I said from the beginning that I haven't decided where I stand on it. You might want to re-check that post. I was very clear that I supported the idea of the state choosing to attract a for-profit business which would have tourism potential.

I just was curious as to whether some individuals would be as "pro-commerce" if the theme park owner said stuff like "There will be an effort made to present the Quaran at the park. That has not been hidden at all from anything we have said."

I think you're the one trying to manufacture outrage.

tailgater
Herf-A-Holic

12 years ago

#29

TW,
The bouncy house was to show that Noah's story is not limited to biblical gospels.
Do try to keep up.

Vic,
The discussion becomes moronic when a story about a noah's ark theme park that will pay taxes and not claim a tax exempt status is compared to an indoctrination chamber where infidels are verboten.

teedubbya
Herf-A-Holic

12 years ago

#30

But clearly this park is.

gryphonms
Herf-A-Holic

12 years ago

#31

TG, if you made the Muslim park a fair analogy instead of a worst case scenerio it would go something like this. Abdul is going to recreate the wailing wall and a small version of Mecca. Sorry I cannot give better examples there probably are. There will be an effort made to proselytize the Muslim religion at the park.

Would you be OK with that because the precedent has been set with Noah's ark theme park. For discussion sake assume the tax rebates are the same and it is a for profit business.

tailgater
Herf-A-Holic

12 years ago

#32

gryphonms wrote:

The problem with this comparison, is that nobody outside of the Muslim religion feels any association with the wailing wall, etc.

When you hear "wailing wall" or "mecca", you think of Muslims.

This isn't a Christ's Crucifixion theme park.

Noah's story appeals to little kids.
There are no tower of Babel bouncy houses. That would be religious.
If you think of the Bible when you see two giraffes sleeping alongside two tigers, then you might have to reconsider your sanity.

You can ask whether tax rebates should be provided to a for-profit business venture.
But don't try to force-fit an ill conceived comparison.

teedubbya
Herf-A-Holic

12 years ago

#33

BS. It's a religious themed park per its own creators.

opelmanta1900
Herf-A-Holic

12 years ago

#34

educate yourself...

Constitutional Law Attorney Corrects Misinformation About the Ark Project
Amidst all the misinformation and false accusations coming from portions of the secular media, from the Democratic Speaker of the House in Kentucky, and from atheist bloggers in regard to the Ark Encounter project and its funding, we are thankful that the Courier Journal (Louisville, Kentucky) agreed to post an opinion piece (called an op-ed) that one of our attorneys wrote to clearly put matters right.
Mike Johnson is chief counsel of Freedom Guard, a nonprofit, constitutional law organization that has assisted Answers in Genesis with its Ark Encounter project. He states the following in the op-ed that was posted online today to the Courier-Journal website:

One would expect that any project that will bring millions of dollars in new capital investment, create hundreds of jobs and be a tremendous asset to the communities of Northern Kentucky would be enthusiastically welcomed by every Kentuckian. But because the project at issue is the Ark Encounter theme park, a few radical secularists and others are doing their best to oppose the park and misrepresent both the law and the related facts. Fortunately, the secularists’ arguments hold no water.

In regard to the performance-based sales tax refund, Mike Johnson states the following:

This is clearly not a government “grant,” as the secularists have claimed, because not a single penny will be pulled from the existing state treasury to help build or support the Ark project. Instead, the commonwealth has merely agreed as an incentive that it will refund a portion of the brand-new tax dollars that are generated by the park itself, if and when the park meets certain attendance-performance levels at the end of each year. It’s the same deal that every other participant in the act has been given — and that is precisely the “government neutrality” that is required by the First Amendment.

Mike ends his op-ed with this challenge:

If the secularists were truly proponents of the First Amendment as they claim, they would want to welcome that civic discourse (and tremendous economic development), rather than stamp it out. When the Ark Project sails, everybody will benefit — even those who are stubbornly trying to sink it.

http://www.courier-journal.com/story/opinion/contributors/2014/08/03/ark-encounter-incentives-tourism/13476757/

tailgater
Herf-A-Holic

12 years ago

#35

BS. It's a religious themed park per its own creators.

teedubbya wrote:

LOL!
OK Sparky.
See you at church this sunday. They're having a gopher wood seminar.

opelmanta1900
Herf-A-Holic

12 years ago

#36

BS. It's a religious themed park per its own creators.

teedubbya wrote:

I agree... it's a religious park... the people pushing it are Christians...

I think the problem is a lot of Americans have this bogus notion that if something is considered religious then the government can't have any involvement with it...

if the park was refused incentives because it is religiously-based - that's where the violation of the law would come in...

tailgater
Herf-A-Holic

12 years ago

#37

opelmanta1900 wrote:

No use using logic, opel.
Nobody said it was devoid of religion. Yet TW uses this unspoken notion as the premise for his outrage.

teedubbya
Herf-A-Holic

12 years ago

#38

I agree opei. I've had no outrage other than pretending these folks and this park are not religious because tail once jumped in an ark bouncy room.

I've got no issue with the tax breaks. But y'all are avoiding what I thought is an interesting question of what if it was Islam based. Tail skirted it by pretending thick park is not religious even though it's creators say it is.

I'll answer it straight on since you won't. I've got no issue with the tax breaks regardless of denomination.

See. Easy easy. No one in here that I know is having an issue church v state.

gryphonms
Herf-A-Holic

12 years ago

#39

To the best of my knowledge separation of church and state is a concept that Thomas Jefferson put forth in a letter to a church or church organization. The 2nd amendment is pretty straightforward. The government must treat all religions the same and cannot have an official religion.

gryphonms
Herf-A-Holic

12 years ago

#40

Edit, first amendment.

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