I forget ? Did the Awake and Watchtower magazines have a price Tag on the front page saying .25 CENTS OR one quarter dollars in print. I remember they we're 25 cents Americans dollars. . If it's fact I would like some one to post a picture to prove what I've been arguing some wt Zombie about
Before 1990 did the watchtower magazines have a Price tag
by Hotpepper 10 Replies latest jw friends
-
-
Hotpepper
I know for fact some JW study books say send .50 CENTS or half an American dollar to buy the truth book etc.
-
greenhornet
I remember the magazines were 3 cents each . The WT sold them to the publishers at the magazine counter. The pioneers paid 1 cent each. We "placed" them to the general public for 10 cents for the 2 magazines.
-
Atlantis
I carried one of these when I was 6 years old. You may need to click the image to make it larger.
Atlantis! -
Jeffro
A specific price was indicated for all JW publications prior to the Jimmy Swaggart case regarding taxation on religious literature. A price tag was not included on the cover, but the magazines provided the price in small print on the inner front cover.
Awake!, January 8, 1975, page 13:
No doubt you noticed how inexpensive Awake! and The Watchtower are—just five cents (U.S.) a copy—whereas other magazines today often cost seventy-five cents per copy and more. Do you know why? It is because Awake! and The Watchtower are produced by a unique family that is interested, not in material gain, but in providing information that they believe is of vital importance to others.
Um... no... other magazines are more expensive because they have to pay their staff.
-
smiddy3
Publishers bought the magazines over the literature counter and then charged a few cents more to cover their expenses in delivering these magazines to the public.
I remember specifically selling a couple of Mags to a householder who then tore them up in front of me hoping to get a reaction ?
If i remember correctly I said something like ,"no loss to me you just paid for them " and walked off
.A specific price was indicated for all JW publications prior to the Jimmy Swaggart case regarding taxation on religious literature.
As Jeffro says , that`s when it all changed , the WTB&TS went to bat for Jimmy Swaggart`s religion as a friend of the court , trying to protect their own interests and supporting one of Christendoms religions.
Don`t believe me ? Do your own research .! lurkers ,and any who just take the G.B.at their word .!
-
Sea Breeze
I offered the rags for .10 / ea. when I was a kid in the late 60's. I remember when every thing went to a "donation" in the late 80's.. We were supposed to "donate" when we picked up the literature and we were supposed to ALSO give back 100% of the "donations" we collected in the field.
It didn't take a genius to figure out that publishers were now paying twice, wear as before we were only paying once. I remembered this bothered many a conscience, so most just gave them for free to avoid a crisis of conscience.
The WT was quick to take the side of Jimmy Swaggart in filing that brief. I remember feelng slimy about the whole thing.
-
road to nowhere
Merely the cost of production. No matter that the sales brochures at work cost less. Remember the stories of people who were going to die if they couldn't find a quarter and we couldn't leave a free one.
Commercial mags not had paid staff but also more content and color pictures.
-
Beth Sarim
From David A. Reed "Blood on the Altar" p 166
"If I were to make a regular practice of knocking on doors to sell encyclopedias or other book--even religious books--Massachusetts law would require me to register as a vendor, to collect the state's 5 percent sales tax, and to turn that tax money over to the state"......"Many others states have similar laws. Yet Watchtower factories that crank out thousands of books per day do not collect sales tax on those books. The local Kingdom Hall book rooms(similar to in house bookstores connected with some churches) receive those shipments of books and act as stocking distributors for Watchtower factories , but they do not collect sales tax when they sell the books to individual Jehovah's Witnesses who carry the books from door to door do not collect sales tax when they sell them to the end-user"...
"A letter was read on February 25, 1990 from Brooklyn headquarters dated February 9, was read at Kingdom Halls throughout the United States...it read
'By adopting a method of literature distribution based completely on donation, Jehovah's people are able to greatly simplify our Bible education work and separate ourselves from those who commercialize religion'....
"The real story behind the change goes back to June 22, 1989, when the Watchtower Society file an AMICUS CURIAE("friend of the court") brief with the United States Supreme Court in a legal case involving Jimmy Swaggart Ministries. When California had required the television evangelist to pay approximately $183,000 in sales tax on some $2million worth of books and tapes sold in the state, he sued for a refund. His appeal eventually found its way to the U.S. supreme Court, where the Watchtower's New York corporationn joined the International Society for Krishna Consciousness of California, the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountabilty, the Prison Fellowship, the National Council of Churches of Chris, and other religious bodies in filing beliefs.
"...in spite of the support Swaggart received from other religious groups filing briefs, the Supreme court ruled against him on January 17, 1990, declaring that the sales tax must be paid...The Watchtower Society promptly reacted to this ruling by announcing that literature would no longer be sold to Witnesses at the Kingdom Hall, and that no prices would be set when they distributed materials door to door... the letter was read aloud from the pulpit on February 25.1990."
"Losing his legal appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court, Jimmy Swaggart ended up pay the $183,000 sales tax he owed on some $2million worth of sales. Those figures look large until placed alongside the Watchtower Society's New York factories alone produced 35,811,000 Bibles, books, and brochures during the previous year. With a conservatively estimated average sale price of $2.00, those publications would account for an annual sales volume of over $71million. Taxed at the rate Swaggart had to pay, that would give the Society a sales tax liability of some $6.5million for the New York factories alone for 1989. The court held Jimmy Swaggart liable for back taxes fro 1974 through 1981, all the years covered by his case, a similar eight-year period for the JW literature factories in New York might generate a tax liability in the neighborhood of $50million. By changing its distribution methods in response to the Swaggart ruling, has the Wathctower Society implied that it recognizes a tax liability for materials distributed for a fixed price prior to March 1, 1990. If So, that would amount to many millions of dollars in taxes owed to several states. How far back a state or jurisdiction could go in attempting to collect delinquent taxes would be determined by the local statute of limitations.''
So, all in all. Any method used to avoid legal entanglements and or paying taxes which are due.
-
under the radar
In the end, every decision they make is about protecting their money and maintaining their power over adherents. Money and control. The eternal motivators.