Wow the Mormon church has a lot of money

Our rejuvenated city centre opened this weekend - City Creek here in Salt Lake City. It's a glorified shopping mall, built by the Mormon church, on land that they now own in the centre of the city. The cost? $5bn. With a "b". To put that into perspective, the Burj Khalifa - the tallest building in the world - with all its associated infrastructure and shopping, office and living facilities, only cost $1.5bn to build. Here's the best part - because it's owned by the Church, City Creek is closed on sundays - arguably the busiest shopping day of the week for people with regular jobs. That's a good investment then. I knew the Church had a lot of money to burn. With all it's followers paying a mandatory 10% tithing (they'll tell you it's optional or 'suggested', but in reality it's mandatory), they rake in the cash like a charity on steroids. And speaking of charity, because that 10% is considered to be charitable donation, they don't pay state or federal tax on it (the entire church is tax-exempt).
But blowing $5bn on a shopping mall in the middle of a recession? That's a terrible waste of money, especially for a Church who's followers are 95% Republican and allegedly all about austerity and reigning in out-of-control spending.
However - I suppose they can afford it. After all - according to Mutt Romney, "There are no poor people in Utah".

Comments

Paul said…
Churches and the money they throw around disgust me to be honest. Especially here in the US. Huge churches worth millions of dollars, clergy that paid obscene amounts of money.
I'm not religious now (really! I hear you say!) but I was brought up in a religious household. What happened to giving to the poor or helping those in need?
17:03
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