Hey can it be done? Become a Pastor, register a church, open a trading account under the church and all your gains are 0 tax because its for the church and your living expenses as a pastor?
Yes - if you are able to prove that you are a pastor with an actual congregation ^_^ Besides, any profits will have to be used for church or religious purposes.
Who is to say what his religious doctrine entails, or for that matter what is "real" or not? He could say he worships snails and the gummint can't say shit. You could just pay yourself a salary from the church's money as the pastor...and live in the parsonage...paid for of course by the church's profits. ha ha ha Hell (pardon the pun), I don't see why not.
I just noticed this thread. I have a heck of an idea for an investment church. Go ahead and laugh. I haven't worked out all the details yet but the first order of business is to give each parishoner a line of credit for 10k.. Mnnn shall I keep going? The member then purchases a 10k annuity from the church, with the obligation to make the monthly payment on the line of credit. (The member already makes a monthly tithe) When the annuity matures and is paid up, the member then receives a monthly income. The church purchases an annuity on the open market for much less than the 10k line of credit obligation Maybe I could get an insurance whiz to help fill in the rough edges.
Someone suggested that I look into this: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Cowen/essays/nytimes.html or even http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...mpt&btnG=Google+Search&aq=0&oq=scientology+ta Is it any wonder that the rich are so attracted to it?