In a new book, Max Wallace of the Australian National Secular Association argues that democracies should be republics characterized by constitutional separations of church and state and that it is not the role of a state to ‘advance religion’ through tax breaks.
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL SECULAR ASSOCIATION (ANSA)
MEDIA RELEASE
ANSA is pleased to announce the publication of The Purple Economy: Supernatural Charities, Tax and the State.
The book was written by ANSA Director, Max Wallace PhD, and was published by ANSA in December 2007.
The Australian launch for the book has been delayed until February 2008 because of the timing of the Australian Federal election in early December 2007. However, the New Zealand launches went ahead in Auckland on 9 December 2007 at Rationalist House, Auckland, and Turnbull House, Wellington, on 13 December 2007.
The Purple Economy is defined as ‘the wealth generated by the eternal mass exemption from taxation of religious organizations, their subsidiaries and their charitable arms.’ Max Wallace argues democracies should be republics characterized by constitutional separations of church and state. He also argues it is not the role of a state to ‘advance religion’ through the myriad of tax breaks supernatural organizations receive by virtue of centuries old charity law. These are tithes by stealth imposed on secular taxpayers without their consent. The book concludes that supernatural organizations should pay tax like any other corporation with the same deductions allowable for charitable work.
The Purple Economy is mostly focused on Australian society but it has clear application to all other western liberal democracies on all continents.
Max Wallace argues Australian democracy was compromised by a 1981 High Court 6-1 decision in the Defence of Government Schools (DOGS) case where six judges, who had accepted British knighthoods, decided the religion clause in the Australian Constitution could not be interpreted in a republican way, even though the clause was clearly based on the US Constitution. The result of this decision was twofold: separation of church and state was abandoned and tens of billions of dollars have flowed to religious schools while public education has floundered.
The Purple Economy is currently only available in Sydney and Melbourne. Interested persons should mail their orders to [email protected]