#this is a dumb question

[radiosummons]

Real talk: Does the Jedi Order have a tax exempt status?

I know it's somewhat of a meme to make jokes about how the Jedi don't know how to pay taxes, or rather questioning whether they get paid or make any income at all. And, yes, this question is kinda dumb in the sense that whether the Jedi Order has tax exempt status or not, it doesn't effect the over all story or any actual SW lore in any way that actually matters.

I also know that tax exempt status works differently in other countries besides the US (yes, hello, I am American. I hate it here, too). But for the sake of taking this very dumb question at face value, would the Jedi Order:

1) Count as a religious institution in the eyes of Republic law?

2) If so, would their status as a religious institution have any impact on whether they attained tax exempt status from the Republic?

3) What standards and regulations would the Republic IRS have in place regarding tax exemption?

4) Do the Jedi even have an accounting department?

I would peronally argue that, yes, the Jedi Order is in fact a religious institution. On the account of the obvious connection to the Force and heavily coded (if not just downright) religious practices that the Jedi follow.

However, even if the Republic were to grant the Jedi Order the status of a lawfully recognized religious institution, I'm not sure if this would actually lead to them a guaranteed tax exempt status.

According to United States IRS standards and regulations, the Jedi Order could and would also be seen as a religious institution. However, one of the biggest stipulations for retaining tax exempt status is that the religious institution does not attempt to or make any influence on legislative or attempt to influence political campaigns.

(Palpatine voice: Ironic).

Now, if the Republic had similar stipulations, I would argue that, no, the Jedi do not get tax exemption. Mostly because one of the longest known duties associated with the Jedi Order is their role in assisting with galactic diplomacy. It would be literally impossible for them to not get involved in some capacity, especially when their aid is often directly requested (whether by a Republic aligned planet or not).

That being said, this is all going by the standards of the IRS. And at the risk of sounding too jaded, there are hundreds if not outright thousands of religious institutions in the US that should have lost their tax exempt status decades ago. And yet ....

Obviously, this all ultimately depends on what standards the Republic would theoretically have in place for situations like this. And while I would never actually want George Lucas--or any other writer for that matter--to attempt to give us a canon answer, I can't help but wonder.

Even if the Jedi Order was completely self-reliant--which I personally don't think is possible due to them, well, living on Coruscant for thousands of years-just as an example. It just doesn't make sense to me that the Jedi would limit themselves to only what they make in house when they could have easy access to other local businesses, ya know?--whose to say that they wouldn't still be required to pay for taxes like regular citizens?

The Jedi Temple, again, has literally been there for thousands of years. I don't think it's entirely out of the realm of possibility that the Republic wouldn't have sent their own SW IRS agent at least once to audit the Jedi Order.

I honestly wouldn't even be surprised if that Jedi Order would be given a slight form of tax exemption, but only if certain conditions were met. Like, I don't know, what if an official member of the local Coruscantii/Republic government were to make a direct request for the aid of the Jedi. Maybe they'd get a tax write off for all the transportation and housing (or vehicular damage) they'd acrue while on this government sponsored mission?

Or what about this? Business institutions in the US get tax write offs for charitable donations (which the fuckers exploit to hell and back, fuck me). I have to wonder if there was a point in time (maybe the early years of the ye Old Republic) where someone had to bring up the fact that a lot of what the Jedi do could count fall under charitable tax deductions. So if they wanted to continue taxing the Jedi Order, they'd probably have to change up the definition or something.

Idk, man, I'm sort of spit balling random thoughts at this point.

I'd also like to say that I believe the Jedi do, in fact, have an accounting department. Just to keep thing running smoothly in regards to the Temple budget and so on. It would be kinda hard to keep a place that big with that many occupants still around and for that long without having someone keeping a close eye on the Order's spending.

Mostly, though, I just find the idea of the Jedi being audited absolutely hilarious.

[mamatater]

The spouse is getting curious about tumblr

[jelly-jam]

How the fuck do people know how tall they are?

Like do people actually remember what those things at the doctors say?

[feelingtheaster99]

It is completely in character for Percy to say he has some dumb questions, then ask incredibly valid questions that no one has brought up till now

[maiooo-0]

Kurt wagner... *clenching fists

Did you know there's a 'what if' of Raven raising Kurt (who she named Michael). I kinda hate half of it but it's actually quite good,,, the art it's my fav part

[ninemelodies]

14, laying on a blanket pallet on the floor of shaun & donna’s room at 3am: donna do you think pigeons are plotting to take over the earth

donna: doctor please go to sleep. but also probably. i’ve never trusted pigeons.

[countingstars-17]

i'm not allowed to be frustrated?

[blueskiesandstarrynights]

Idk why this is so funny to me but it absolutely is

[bluerosefox]

No Longer In Service

Okay

Okay

hear me out

Ghost King Danny Summoning!

The heroes fail to stop it, everyone is panicking, they feel like they’ve truly failed to stop it. etc etc

EVERYONE is ready to fight for their final life.

They’re as ready as they can be to go against something so evil JLD are scared of it.

SO when the dome that was sealing them away from the summoner finally shatters they are expecting some huge eldritch being, something made of pure nightmares... Only...

Only to find an old tape recorder in the middle of the summoning circle...

Everything is dead silent. No one moves...

Then it clicks on and makes a loud noise.

The noise?

It was the no longer in service beep.

“We’re, not, sorry.” a teenage voice began after the beep ended, startling everyone as they weren’t expecting this at all “But the Ghost King you are trying to reach is no longer in service or rather King anymore. Thus any big evil world ending plans you have made will not be approved during my reign. Please, get a life and try to actually live it because I will not be ending anyone's or mass genocide anything... Also to the really insane Fruitloop that tried summoning a being with the warning of "will cause the end of your world". I am the Ghost King now, eventually everything and everyone will enter my domain regardless of who, when, how, or why. That is something I can wait for, I got no reason to speed it up.... So have a pleasant day and enjoy being arrested or ended for doing this dumb summoning if you decided to do this in front of like everyone in your world or something... Goodbye!”

The world went silent after that.

That...

None of them were expecting that at all.

[mightysen]

I call this one "The Corporate Sponsored Gyjo Christmas Special". Enjoy!

(bonus comic below the cut)

Fun fact: $20 USD in 1890's money would adjust to somewhere in the ballpark of $653 USD at the time of posting this (2024).

[beebeedibapbeediboop]

The unholy

[thegreatidk]

My biggest beef with the way Annabeth was written in the show is that I think Rick fell into his own trap. Like his whole thing with Annabeth is that just because someone doesn’t look smart doesn’t mean they aren’t. And while it’s about their literal looks for both the show and the book, book Annabeth also sometimes acted in ways that people wouldn’t stereotypically associate with “smart” because I think we’ve all be condition to think bbc sherlock no emotions genius is the only way to be smart. Book Annabeth acts super flustered around Luke because she's a kid and she has a crush on him, she's afraid of spiders, and wanted to see the arch just because she thought it was cool. In general book Annabeth is allowed to be sillier and have a wider range of emotions than show Annabeth without it detracting from the fact that Annabeth is smart. I find this whole "stoic genius" idea is often used to put down teenage girls for being dumb and superficial just because they show emotions and the only way to beat it is to be cold, calculating, and emotionless and most people just aren't like that.

[3liza]

ok I give up trying to "fix my sleep schedule" again for real this time. this is really it I'm not fucking with it anymore. if I can stay up for 72 hours and still manage to not "go to bed" until 7am at the end of it that's simply not my problem anymore that is a medical curiosity and none of my business

[audible301]

“Why did you invite Rekha to this season if not for this?” From Izzy while the entire rest of the table tries to logic the oily shirt situation

The level in which The Seven cast matches each other’s freak

[ww2yaoi]

who’s winning the miss information pageant

[secretfreakyblog]

touch me please, i need you

⛧°.⋆༺♱༻⋆.°⛧⛧°.⋆༺♱༻⋆.°⛧⛧°.⋆༺♱༻⋆.°⛧⛧°.⋆༺♱༻⋆.°⛧⛧°.⋆༺♱༻⋆.°⛧