![]() The Church itself was a few million dollars in debt. In 1900 most Mormons in Salt Lake City were farmers and small business owners. The Mormon efforts at financial matters were so ineffectual that by the turn of the century the great majority of millionaires in Utah were non-Mormons. Flush with cash from settlers passing through Salt Lake on their way to California’s gold rush country, the Mormons made some very costly and bad investments in hard rock mining, furniture manufacturing, and trying to grow cotton in the arid climate. Arrington’s fascinating study details the many mistakes LDS leaders in Salt Lake City made in their efforts to become self-sustaining financially, agriculturally, and in every other way. LDS historian Leonard Arrington (1917-1999) titled his important 1958 study of 19th century Mormon economics Great Basin Kingdom. A stone monument was erected atop Ensign Peak to signify this event in Mormon history. A few days after arriving in Salt Lake, Brigham Young and other early LDS leaders “raised an ensign to the nations” to signify that this land, its people, and their church would become a beacon unto the nations. Situated on the outskirts of Salt Lake City, Ensign Peak is considered a sacred site by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Will the IRS do anything about either of these organizations amassing such huge fortunes, violating their tax exempt status? For more thoughts on the Washington Post’s bombshell, Jeffrey Augustine penned this piece for us. With about $3 billion in reserve, Scientology has a far higher per capita bloat, at about $150,000 per member, assuming a membership of only about 20,000. We wrote up a quick rundown of the story, and pointed out that the $100 billion represented about $6,667 for each of the 15 million members of the Mormon church. And instead of making expenditures of that money for charitable purposes, it’s been using the money to bolster the church’s for-profit enterprises. The report, written by a former employee of a subsidiary of the Mormon church, claimed that the church has, in violation of its tax exempt status, amassed a fortune of $100 billion. ![]() Monday night, the Washington Post uncorked a stunning investigation based on a whistleblower’s confidential report to the IRS. ![]()
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