bruce-church (https://bruce-church.myopenid.com/)
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Schuller family food insecurity reminds me of a WELS pastor whose salary was cut by $5,000, from $44,000 to $39,000 per year, but yet he got free medical and stayed free at parsonage, and his wife had a great job, too. Then he was complaining about food insecurity during announcements after a church service, wondering where he'd get the money to buy groceries. The members at that point all got food insecurity, too, but not of the same kind. They felt they were about to lose their breakfast!
His pay got cut for not doing evangelism. Also, one could add that he's the one that drove his kids all over the place for school, soccer, hockey, YMCA, etc. In other words, he was being soccer mom instead of his wife doing that, and no pastor can afford the time for that.
I have said before the pastor got docked $4,000, but that was in error. I realize it was $5,000. I just spit out a figure without doing the simple math. Oops!
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GJ - To pay rent on a house, one would have to earn about $1200 a month to net $900 a month for rent. Free utilities are worth another $500 a month (gross). Employees get medical coverage but business owners pay a fortune for their own; nevertheless, medical coverage is worth a lot. With his wife earning a good salary and benefits, the couple is earning $100,000 a year with many tax advantages. Meanwhile, the congregation is paying a fortune for the husband to be the wife and take care of the domestic chores.
5 comments:
Now I know what Scheer's referring to:
http://steadfastlutherans.org/?p=16135
The apostasy chickens are coming home to roost.
This is a couple of times now that I've read about pastors staying "free" at a parsonage. I don't get that. Federal law mandates that a pastor living in a parsonage calculate the fair market rental value of the house and add that amount per month on to his annual salary... and then pay both Federal and SE tax on it (15.3%) If a pastor is staying completely free at a parsonage (not paying tax on that), he's breaking the law.
It is not free, but part of his compensation. Federal law mandates Social Security tax on the value of the parsonage, but the feds have to give ministers the same benefit that the military receive. A congregation may give a minister a housing allowance and a furnishings allowance, both non-taxable. If he is in a parsonage, he can receive a furnishings allowance tax-free. The furnishings allowance can be stipulated as part of his salary, making that part free of income taxes. I am not a tax attorney, so the details should be worked out with one. I used TurboTax, so I could be SecTreas one day.
"I am not a tax attorney, so the details should be worked out with one."
That's a good idea for this post. Any accountants out there who specialize in clergy taxes who can chime in with some authority? If not, then read up on it here:
http://www.witmerwoodtax.com/forms.php?which=allowance
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