Wow, these guys can twist anything into a reason to pat themselves on the back.
By leaving out a lot of relevant information, they make it seem like they are doing such a wonderful service to the Clearwater community.
First, the LOSS of revenue for the City of Clearwater is HUGE. If all the dozens of properties scientology owns were taxable, the amount of revenue generated would be at least 10 times the 3 million. Maybe 20 times. Or even more.
This is the SHORTFALL that the city does NOT receive. Tens of millions annually. But the city DOES provide the fire and police departments, roads and other infrastructure which is disproportionately used by scientology compared to the taxes they pay. No other non-taxable organization has anywhere close to the amount of property scientology takes OFF the tax revenue stream.
Second, the reason the legitimate churches pay so little is that nobody else in Clearwater operates HOTELS like scientology. They have a raft of them — the Ft Harrison, Oak Cove, Sandcastle, Yachtsman and Mariner in the downtown area and the Tradewinds, Bayside and Clipper motels a mile up N. Ft Harrison Ave. Most of these places are virtually empty. If they were full, the amount of taxes would be higher.
Scientology, like an arsonist who takes credit for calling the Fire Department to put out the blaze they started, is taking credit for “paying taxes” as good citizens of Clearwater while hanging on to a tax exempt status that should never have been granted and certainly should not maintain.
If you could classify an organization the way you can classify personalities, scientology would be classified as malignant narcissists. They have NO shame. And everything is about what is good for them.
They love impressive-sounding numbers without context. I’d want to know what percentage of the city’s real estate they own, versus what percentage of the city’s taxes they pay – and what’s behind the weasel-wording of “in Clearwater” as much of what they claim they pay may be to the county, which collects the Tourist Development Tax – for example.
And as someone caught, they’re cherry-picking statistics from back in 2018. 2019 must not have been so good even before they got hit by the pandemic, and I’m sure they don’t want to let on what a disaster 2020 was for them.
Oh, and, yeah, we’d all like to know how many actual, active members there are in the area – not just how many names are on old mailing lists, or haven’t done much of anything in years if not decades. I doubt it would exceed 2 thousand members and a similar number of annual visitors to Flag, in a metro area with a population of over 3 million that gets about 25 million visitors in a normal year, making Scientology statistically insignificant except for the drain and negative impacts on Clearwater itself.
Another fact that these “statistics” side-step: When parishioners of other churches (or anyone, for that matter) come to Clearwater, they will spend their money in the community. This helps to maintain or grow the city’s tax base as it keeps restaurants, bars, hotels and souvenir shops in business, or even attracts new ones. It supports a work force in the community that pays taxes in many more ways, such as income, sales and property taxes. After taxes, this workforce spends their money in the community on rent and various goods. The recipients of those moneys in turn pay their own taxes. Ad inifinitum.
When scientologists come to town, the “church” will do its damnedest to make sure that these tourists spend most of their money on “religious services”, IAS, auditing, trinkets such as overpriced media and running around a pole. All of that is tax-free With what’s left, these pilgrims are coerced to spend their money in-house, away from the community, on lodging, meals and souvenirs. Their time is also monopolized. So the odds of them spending money at the beach or on a night on the town are slim. Tax-wise, the community gets minimal dregs of all this substantial spending.
To make matters worse, the workforce facilitating all of this economic activity is “volunteer.” Their impact on the tax roll is negligible. If anything, they are a drain on it due to tax credits for low-income earners. They may also be eligible for costly social and health services due to their impoverishment, much to the taxpayers’ delight.
Their spending in the community is minimal as they have no money to spend and minimal time to do so. They are in no position to create income for other providers of goods and services who in turn would provide to the tax base.
Not even quantifiable is the impact of being “cult city” on CW’s tax revenues or squandered potential. Or the effect of the recent property acquisition spree by cult members that has resulted in a large number of fiscally unproductive, vacant properties in the city. Or the inevitable depression of property values (and hence, taxes) that comes with these developments.
If the citizens of Clearwater were stricken with “xenuitus” disease (meaning they had to say Xenu every time them meet and speak to Scientologists), or the variant disease called body-thetan-itus, and those two words, XENU and BODY-THETANS, were spoken constantly, that would truly cause some historical behavioural reactions from the Clearwater Scientologists which Scientology has no handling for.
A funny survey I’d like to know, if ever those staff at the Flag Building, have inadvertently misspoken or thought “Flap” for “Flag”.
Like, “I’m going to the Flap Building” when they meant to say “Flag Building.”
I wonder how prevalent that Scientologian Slip is made by them.
One thing, it could be a tourist draw.
The LRH Exhibition Museum on Hollywood Bld has stats for drawing in tourists and creating positive impressions.
The Flap Building I wonder if the Receptionist there will ever have stats related to drawing in tourist/visitors and staticise that.
Does anyone know of any former ex Sea Org Flag Building Receptionists, they’d be interesting to hear what their stats were.
Will Scientology’s “Mecca” Flag Building become Clearwater’s slightly Taj Mahal type of thing?
Taj Xenu. Or, the Taj Xenu Building.
Maybe Cult City Tours can make light of Taj Xenu for the Flag Building’s unofficial nickname.
Sir I am delighted to know that you are also Xenu fan.
🤣😂😆😅🤣😂
Back to topic about changing face of Clear water …
If you look at down town of any North American city in general and European city in particular, they have huge portfolio of historic buildings, Churches School, Hospital, and monuments built by churches.
First it created employment for the followers, , second it helped the followers to establish supporting business and third they colonies the surroundings by building houses.
Compare the numbers of Scientologist before super power building its completion.
In economics there is a concept8 known Multiplier Effect , cash changing hands, from landlord to grocery srorev to pub , laundromat, health store , super markets ,gas station etc etc etc .
In developed exnomies it rotate more then 22 times. It could be with in 22 weeks or 22 months or 22 years. After that time fresh funds has to be injustef in the community economy ,to keep existing followers glued to the city. They need new projects , such as LRH Hall.
Old saying , nothing succeed like success
Same token they are following the same footsteps of other religions.
Seems, the strategist might be a retired History professor,
But there is a Catch 22, in case of downfall it may become a huge liability.
Real Estate magnets and enterprising lawyers shall go after the historic building invading the Board of Governors
Interesting info, I hope you contribute more thoughts.
On the tactic of invading the Board of Governors, Scientology wouldn’t let any non Scientologists on their Boards.
Or were you thinking of the other normal Boards?
Scientology won’t try get on them due to being guided to do their own thing and not extend out like normal other groups’ members do.
———————
Because so many of the young members of the downtown Scientology buildings are staff trainees, that group of staff trainees is so poor, and they aren’t given free time to go outside their bubble to spend the money, except one day off every two weeks which isn’t given to them automatically, they have to earn their one day off every two weeks, if that, so they just cannot percolate money into the downtown or into the walking distance businesses to where they are communally berthed which is a mile or so away.
Staff busing and the staff trainee busing keeps them within their compounds where they live, old motels, and a housing apartment complex.
Getting the lower allowance class of Scientologists who make up the majority of the people in the downtown Scientology buildings, they definitely don’t have the time and money to spend as freely as normal citizens.
Think of them as mainly monk or nun financially spendworthy.
Especially who gets on and off their buses, those are the nun/monk financially spendworthy “class” of Scientologists in downtown Clearwater.
The places they know it is kosher for them to frequent are the businesses who are not “SP” connected, and there are a few of those businesses they can buy things at.
2018? Why the old figure? A more telling number would be to find out what the “church” paid in taxes in 2020. Surely, they have that number now, almost one year later.
Better yet, contrast it with the amount of money they took for covid relief. (Hint: that amount well exceeded even the $3.1 m that was conveniently chosen from a few years back). And accompany it with an explanation why a multi-billion dollar enterprise would need incentives to keep a work force of “volunteers” that are practically working for free.
There are many corporations that dodge their way out of paying taxes, whether it be in the US or in England, and possibly other countries. A few of them dodge more taxes than Scientology. But for the most part, those corporations, and individuals, too, who work hard at lightening their tax burden do not also engage in Fair Gaming, Disconnection, harsh regging, human trafficking, and also do not commit perjury and general lying as part of their everyday activities.
Fortunately, Scientology is getting smaller and smaller, and Miscavige will not live forever. Their wealth in terms of assets is immense, but the tower is crumbling, and the real estate assets are generally losing value through depreciation and dilapidation. I don’t see any new whales arriving to shore it up with piles of donations, when all they get in return is a grip-and-grin photo op with the Tiny Tyrant, and a gaudy trophy they have to store somewhere. Scientology can only spend so many millions building Idle Morgs before they start falling down from lack of staff attention, and lack of proper maintenance.
Surely, by the time any effort to take away the tax exemption actually works the church will be on its last legs, reduced to a few locations with televisions re-running the same tired old lies about Scientology and its “millions” doing wonders all around the world.
Christian Science Reading Rooms, here comes Scientology, your future co-tenants. Make sure to get their share of the rent up front, and don’t believe any promises Scientology makes, ever.
Hubbard’s scam will not hold up forever. It is not now and never was a religion, so those so-called scholars looking at Scientology as a NRM – New Religious Movement – have missed the point entirely. Without Hubbard at the helm, constantly adjusting the “Source” documents and trying to force his square pegs of unworkable solutions into the round holes of evolving life and technology, the end is clearly inevitable. Scientology’s three billion in assets will give the guy at the top a soft landing, but land he will. My bet is twenty years then poof! Scientology folds, maybe into warring lawsuits, maybe into warring sects, maybe morphing into some new ‘new religious movement’ with belief in aliens, past lives, and immortality (if they can just sneak past those pesky devils on Mars intent on scrubbing memories…)
Scientology is already dead, but like a reptile with a tiny brain who keeps snapping its jaws even after taking a fatal blow, it just doesn’t know it yet.
ammo alamo:
From your keyboard to Lord Xenu’s screen.😇. I would have guessed 20 or fewer years when I heard what Davey-Boy was doing to the basics. What was that? 30 or so years ago? The enterprise calling itself scientology is past due for its implosion. Already, there are almost no orgs which are self-supporting without begging folks for pure donations, they’re all empty of staff and public —other than Flag which cannibalizes from everywhere else and has services that people PAY for.
Pretty soon there won’t be sufficient staff to turn the lights on, though.
Here! Here! Excellent essay Ammo! This quote sums up $ci in a NUTSHELL…
“ Without Hubbard at the helm, constantly adjusting the “Source” documents and trying to force his square pegs of unworkable solutions into the round holes of evolving life and technology, the end is clearly inevitable.”
Miscavige has not the imagination nor the education to further “Source” or to continue in his “researches”. Scientology will stay stuck in the past as the world moves on and leaves them behind. I do not understand the way that Miscavige has stuck to 50’s-70’s means (re: telex) when we have in the palm of our hands access to almost all of earths knowledge. Something sci-fi writers in Hubbards era dreamed of.
Hubbard himself was moving into the computer realm when he had to jump off to Target 2. He even wrote about computerizing, if I remember correctly, the security systems at one of the compounds. If he had lived he would have embraced technology not left his minions stuck with 50’s era telexes and facsimile machines.
The Sci bookstores are full of tapes and CD’s and DVD’s all in big bulky tacky plastic boxes. Why not put all of that in digital format. Same with his books. Oh I bet they are worried some SP member will just upload all that expensive dreck to the net. It’s already out here DM…give you’re people a break and stop polluting the world with all those tacky plastic boxes. Very few people use CD’s or DVD’s anymore.
Miscavige just isn’t smart enough…if he were when he usurped control way back (which I still can’t understand exactly how that happened) he would have expounded on the ‘research’. He would have fed the minions some lie like “Hubbard trained me personally for years to follow in his steps and continue the research.” The dedicated would have bought it…after all they bought the lie that Miscavige was his hand picked successor. The main problem was that Dave wasn’t smart enough nor imaginative enough to do it. That’s one of the reasons why he had PI’s on Pat Broeker all those years. He thought Broeker had some super ‘sekret’ writings of Hubbards. He thought if he could just make 100% sure he’d swoop in and just gather them up and release little pieces every now and then to the masses after he’d milked them until they bled. Alas it wasn’t to be. Everything Hubs left behind was gobbledygook. There are no super ‘sekret’ Hubbard papers. Miscavige has every bit of dreck the old man left behind. Hubbard was old, sick, mentally unstable and began believing his own lies before he tripped off to Target 2.
Hey maybe Dave IS Hubs reincarnated! After all IF you believe in the ‘whole track’ and that you can come back anywhere on the track ( not just in chronological order) and that different versions of you are living at any given time in the track then technically one person is EVERYONE who ever lived. There are only a finite number of bodies and infinite time so…we’re all the same person. This is why I could never believe in the ‘Whole Track’. By Hubs own definition he should have had several versions of himself in other bodies alive and well and ready to take over when he kicked off. Lies all lies.
TLDR – Miscavige is full of shat and as big a liar as Hubs.
AA, I think DM has been fairly creative in creating “latest, greatest” things to promote to keep the con going. Hubbard left his hands tied as far as the creation of new ‘tech’ that Scientology had always relied on to maintain customers’ interest, but he’s come up with various sorts of releases and rundowns, and errant comma hunts, that have kept the CofS doing relatively better than a lot of the cults of its same vintage.
It’s still crippled and doomed for the sort of reasons you cite, and almost certain not to make the transition from cult to legitimate religion, but rather to eventually go the way of the Jesus Freaks. Rather than dissipating after the death of the founder the way such groups typically do, I think Miscavige has given Scientology a sort of second generation of half-life, but that it will likely crumble almost completely with his demise.
A proposed amendment:
All religions which deny the validity of the Constitution shall not claim protection under it. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
It’s a start, but won’t gain traction as it would eliminate too many “mainstream” churches,
AND it starts to define what a religion is, in violation of the 1st Amendment. I also don’t like that it’s a sort of patriotic means test which they can pass by SAYING anything that’ll give them tax exemption.
IMO, what would be better would be anything that leads to a “means test” like they have in England; Demonstrate, with real, verifiable numbers, your value (if any) to society. If the evidence isn’t required, scientology will just repeat those good-sounding ideals Hubbard never paid much heed to and say “LOOK! we WANT to make society get better.” when they’re just grabbing as much as they can for Davey and walking roughshod over everyone else. scientology helps NO one other than Dwarfenführer®. Until he books off to BUlgravia with lots of cash or he runs out of available money, he’ll continue to be insulated from legal problems in the US, including the niggling situation with Shelly. Controlling that much wealth is his armor.
The only other entity I can name that does the same is the Federal Government. They pay a token fee to Washington DC for all of their services. Downtowns in many large cities are taken over by Federal government buildings.
The only other large tax exempt organization I can name is the Catholic Church. And they pay for sewer/water and trash pick up.
Leave it to Lron to free load off of anyone he can.
The scientology information center asks:
“How many scientologists live, work and play in Tampa Bay?”
Answer: Not many by any count, a small fraction of the overall population of the area to be sure. And, if they are real KSW scientologists, you can bet your ass they have NO time to play. Lots of work maybe to pay off their perpetual debt and you can hardly call that living either.
Just FYI, in Florida physical infrastructure like roads, water, electricity infrastructure and sewage is paid for by use tax regardless of tax exempt status. Sales tax pays for police, fire, schools, jails, et al.
Sales tax is where they are biting it very badly. Police is WAY over staffed as one can see when the CW PD can bring large amounts of force against those taking pics of CoS property.
The problem is that scn doesn’t PAY use taxes in anywhere near the level of their usage because they shield almost all of their property as “religious”, even the staff quarters and the Sandcastle.
O/T. European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) rules that Moscow Scientologist Vladimir Leonidovich Kuropyatnik was illegally detained by a Russian police officer.
*********************************
Durango Press: European Court of Human Rights Affirms Freedom of Religion or Belief of Russian Scientologist
https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/european-court-of-human-rights-affirms-freedom-of-religion-or-belief-of-russian-scientologist/
Direct link to the Judgment:
https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng#{%22itemid%22:[%22001-211885%22]}
NOTE: ECHR link above breaks when posted. Copy and paste entire link, or go to ESMBR link below.
Archived on ESMBR at:
https://exscn2.net/threads/european-court-of-human-rights-rules-that-scientologist-vladimir-leonidovich-kuropyatnik-was-illegally-detained-by-russian-police.4116/
/
I like how this comes out only after Aaron starts talking about them and what they DONT pay in taxes and how what they DO pay in taxes in miniscule compared to any other non tax exempt company. Clowns. The lot of them.
Hey Mike it’s Milton. Can you give Leah my regards? I am a big fan of her and I also watch the King of queens every day. I would also like to compliment her on her Emmy. She definetely deserves one for her good work and I was so glad when I learned that she finally got one.
Milton. She got 2 Emmy. Fully deserved.
And the Tiny Tyrant pooped hisself when he found out. Priceless.
Jere lol. I believe even those who had to give him the bad news have pooped themselves.
The Sciontology Mis-Information Center squeezes out another piece of dung. Of course it pays more than real churches. Because Sciontology isn’t a real church. THAT is the only simple truth in their pile of excrement.
NAILED IT.
Go Aaron! (or A-Aron!)
I really hope Aaron wins. Yesterday’s podcast was very enjoyable and informative. Surely he will be able to do something effective which will then have several implications making clear that this is just a business.
The term arsonist is perfect. In fact, when they look for ruins in people or want money, they do exactly that kind of thing.