©1997-2003 VNN
|
EDITORIAL  Tax Evasion Tactics Bad For Movement BY GANDIVA DAS  EDITORIAL, Jun 12 (VNN) — The use of non-profit Gaudiya Vaishnava societies as tax evasion shelters is a very unscrupulous practice that has been going on since the early years of ISKCON. These schemes have thus been carried over to offshoots of ISKCON and are still being utilized even today by certain devotees who prefer to avoid paying income taxes on their personal profits and earnings.These schemes include the selling of t-shirts, records, flowers, incense and a wide variety of merchandise under the pretext of representing some Vaishnava temple or society. Then a portion of the income is donated to the temple or society in exchange for being an authorized member who collects donations on behalf of the society. In fact, only about half of the proceeds are given to the society or temple and the individual then uses the balance of the profits tax-free for his own personal livelyhood. These tactics started as honest methods for ISKCON to raise funds for book publication, temple building and establishing farm communities, but after the disappearance of Srila Prabhupada the authorities began to make unfortunate compromises by allowing some devotees both married and single to keep a portion of the proceeds for their own private use. Srila Prabhupada warned very sternly in his books that those devotees who collect money on behalf of the society should not use even one farthing of these proceeds for their own personal sense gratification. Quite to the contrary though, there is a certain class of devotees who have been using these tax evasion scams for many years around the movement. Some of the prominent ones bounce around from one non-profit Vaishnava society to the other in search of some authority or corperate president who will grant him permission to collect money on behalf of the society in exchange for a portion of the profits. This is a very questionable practice for both the authority who authorizes such tax evasion scams and for the individual collector who personally profits from the scam. Sometimes we even find that a sannyasi will go into business selling t-shirts, cds or other such commercial merchandise to artificially inflate his assets beyond what he can honestly earn by preaching and accepting donations. When preaching is ineffective and followers scant, these sannyasis resort to commercial enterprises to build up facilities and assets with which to attract a following based on the lure of comfortable ashram facilities. This is not the manner in which sannyasis are supposed to garner a following; with a lure of comfort and luxury. These tactics, scams and schemes have been going on in the movement for way too long and have given devotees the reputation of being dishonest cult members who are bad citizens and social outcastes living off of scrounging and religious philandering. This kind of illegal abuse of non-profit Vaishnava societies needs to stop if the movement is ever to have a respectable honest image within American society. These scammers and schemers need to grow up and become respectable citizens who are admired for their honesty and integrity instead of being ridiculed and scorned for their illegal abuse of religious institutions. Some of these scam artists even have the nerve to pose as preachers and leaders who contribute articles to major Vaishnava websites whilst they cozy up to some Gaudiya Vaishnava society for tax evasion on the pretext of religious fervor and devotion. In fact they are just presenting some partyline politics in favor of their tax shelter under the guise of being an ardent follower of a particular sannyasi who participates in these illegal fund raising schemes. In the end, all it will result in is the government taking away the tax exempt status of the temples and societies, as they are already threatening to do. It is just a matter of time before this abuse will ruin it for all the sincere and honest institutions and churches. For the good of the movement and for the benefit of mankind these scams and schemes need to be given up and these preachers and sannyasis need to learn to live within their means of honest and legitimate donations they receive for their missionary work. There were many faults and defects in the ISKCON money making tactics and they caused immeasurable damage to both the repuation of Srila Prabhupada and to the movement. These are certainly not practices that should have been carried over into offshoots of ISKCON - into other Gaudiya Vaishnava societies. Breaking away from ISKCON was supposed to be an act of rejecting the bad, illegal and improper practices that were introduced by ambitious leaders who wanted to climb the ladder of power and prestige. If a preacher breaks away from ISKCON and then drags with him the excess baggage of scams and schemes that plagued ISKCON, then what is the improvement? All this high philosophy and petty propaganda is just a smokescreen to hide the more important issues facing devotees today which is the integrity and honesty of the leaders of the movement. How can one dare to preach high philosophy and make party politics while they are engaging in illegal and unethical money making schemes in the name of Gaudiya Vaishnavism? First, a preacher must be honest, ethical and respectable, otherwise all his so-called preaching just gives the Hare Krishna movement a bad image of having corrupt money-minded leaders at the top. Forget the politics of rtvik/anti-rtvik propaganda; there is a need for some basic honesty and respectability among the leaders. Who cares what one's partyline politics are if he is a crooked individual abusing the movement as a tax-evasion shelter so that he can amass a large bank-account and jet-set around the world in pursuit of material desires? Healer? Heal thyself! Contact VNN about this story  Send this story to a friend
NEWS DESK | EDITORIALS | TOP |
