Taxation and the Free Exercise of Religion

Taxation and the Free Exercise of Religion PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Church property
Languages : en
Pages : 86

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Taxation and the Free Exercise of Religion

Taxation and the Free Exercise of Religion PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Church property
Languages : en
Pages : 86

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Book Description


Politics, Taxes, and the Pulpit

Politics, Taxes, and the Pulpit PDF Author: Nina J. Crimm
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0195388054
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 420

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Book Description
In Politics, Taxes, and the Pulpit, Nina J. Crimm and Laurence H. Winer examine the provocative mix of religion, politics, and taxes involved in the controversy over houses of worship engaging in electoral political speech. The authors analyze the dilemmas associated with federal tax subsidies benefiting nonprofit houses of worship conditioned on their refraining from political campaign speech. The Supreme Court's recent Citizens United decision invalidating federal campaign finance restrictions on corporations' political campaign speech makes the remaining, analogous restrictive tax laws constraining many nonprofit entities all the more singular and problematic, particularly for houses of worship. Crimm and Winer explore the multifaceted constitutional tensions arising from this legal structure and implicating all fundamental values embodied in the First Amendment: free speech and free press, the free exercise of religion, and the avoidance of government establishment of religion. They also examine the history and economics of taxation of houses of worship. The authors conclude that there exists no means of fully resolving the irreconcilable clashes in a constitutionally permissible and politically and socially palatable manner. Nonetheless, Crimm and Winer offer several feasible legislative proposals for reforming tax provisions that likely will generate considerable debate. If Congress adopts the proposed reforms, however, the revised system should substantially ameliorate the disquieting constitutional tensions induced by the current tax laws and curb the growing emotionally charged atmosphere about the role of religion in the public sphere.

God and the IRS

God and the IRS PDF Author: Samuel D. Brunson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107176301
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
Provides a coherent way to think about the intersection of religious practice and taxes.

Why Churches Should Not Pay Taxes

Why Churches Should Not Pay Taxes PDF Author: Dean M. Kelley
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 168

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The Religion Clauses

The Religion Clauses PDF Author: Erwin Chemerinsky
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0190699736
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
"The relationship between the government and religion is deeply divisive. With the recent changes in the composition of the Supreme Court, the First Amendment law concerning religion is likely to change dramatically in the years ahead. The Court can be expected to reject the idea of a wall separating church and state and permit much more religious involvement in government and government support for religion. The Court is also likely to expand the rights of religious people to ignore legal obligations that others have to follow, such laws that require the provision of health care benefits to employees and prohibit businesses from discriminating against people because of their sexual orientation. This book argues for the opposite and the need for separating church and state. After carefully explaining all the major approaches to the meaning of the Constitution's religion clauses, the book argues that the best approaches are for the government to be strictly secular and for there to be no special exemptions for religious people from neutral and general laws that others must obey. The book argues that this separationist approach is most consistent with the concerns of the founders who drafted the Constitution and with the needs of a religiously pluralistic society in the 21st century"--

Taxing the Church

Taxing the Church PDF Author: Edward A. Zelinsky
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190853972
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
This book explores the taxation and exemption of churches and other religious institutions, both empirically and normatively. This exploration reveals that churches and other religious institutions are treated diversely by the federal and state tax systems. Sectarian institutions pay more tax than many believe. In important respects, the states differ among themselves in their respective approaches to the taxation of sectarian entities. Either taxing or exempting churches and other sectarian entities entangles church and state. The taxes to which churches are more frequently subject - federal Social Security and Medicare taxes, sales taxes, real estate conveyance taxes - fall on the less entangling end of the spectrum. The taxes from which religious institutions are exempt - general income taxes, value-based property taxes, unemployment taxes - are typically taxes with the greatest potential for church-state enforcement entanglement. It is unpersuasive to reflexively denounce the tax exemption of religious actors and institutions as a subsidy. Tax exemption can implement the secular, non-subsidizing goal of minimizing church-state enforcement entanglement and thus be regarded as part of a normative tax base. Taxing the church or exempting the church involves often difficult trade-offs among competing and legitimate values. On balance, our federal system of decentralized legislation reasonably make these legal and tax policy trade-offs, though there is room for improvement in particular settings such as the protection of internal church communications and the expansion of the churches' sales tax liabilities.

Farmer's Tax Guide

Farmer's Tax Guide PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agriculture
Languages : en
Pages : 112

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Politics at the Pulpit

Politics at the Pulpit PDF Author: Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
More than fifty years ago, Congress enacted a prohibition against political campaign intervention for all charities, including churches and other houses of worship, as a condition for receiving tax deductible contributions. Yet the IRS has never taken a house of worship to court for alleged violation of the prohibition through political comments from the pulpit, presumably at least in part because of concerns about the constitutionality of doing so. This decision is surprising, because a careful review of Free Exercise Clause case law - both before and after the landmark Employment Division v. Smith decision - reveals that the prohibition almost certainly would have survived a constitutional challenge. Now, however, two changes to the relevant legal landscape may shift the balance toward houses of worship seeking to challenge the prohibition in the sermon context and generate new concerns for the federal government, even as the IRS begins to more aggressively investigate alleged violations. The first change was Congress' enactment of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, which codified the substantial burden/strict scrutiny analysis articulated by the Supreme Court in pre-Smith Free Exercise Clause cases but rarely followed by that Court in practice. While no longer applicable to state and local laws, RFRA still applies to federal laws, including the prohibition. The second change is the growing support among both courts and scholars for an institutional approach to protecting constitutional rights, particularly in the context of religious organizations. This approach suggests that houses of worship challenging the prohibition may be able to argue successfully that the ability to speak to their members about matters of religious conviction is a necessary aspect of free exercise and so the government cannot, either constitutionally or under RFRA, discourage such speech by placing a condition on the receipt of a long-standing tax benefit. Part I of this Article briefly describes the prohibition and its history. Part II reviews current and past Free Exercise Clause case law and explains why the prohibition almost certainly would have withstood constitutional challenge under those decisions. Part III examines the legislative history and application of RFRA, including the difficult question of what that Act actually "restored," and then applies RFRA to the prohibition. This Part concludes that as applied to the specific context of a religiously motivated sermon the prohibition substantially burdens exercise of religion within the meaning of RFRA. Once that conclusion is reached, RFRA requires the government to demonstrate that the prohibition is the least restrictive means for furthering a compelling government interest. I argue that the government would find such a demonstration difficult if not impossible to make, even taking into account Establishment Clause concerns raised by creating a RFRA-based exception to the prohibition for houses of worship. Part IV explores the developing institutional view of free exercise and argues that a proper appreciation of that view would bar the government from applying the prohibition to not only sermons but also a broader range of internal communications from religious leaders to the members of their houses of worship on matters of religious importance, under both the Constitution and RFRA. Finally, Part V briefly addresses whether as a practical matter an exception to the prohibition could be appropriately defined and limited.

Religion and the State in American Law

Religion and the State in American Law PDF Author: Boris I. Bittker
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316381137
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 1001

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Book Description
Religion and the State in American Law provides a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of religion and government in the United States, from historical origins to modern laws and rulings. In addition to extensive coverage of the religion clauses of the First Amendment, it addresses many statutory, regulatory, and common-law developments at both the federal and state levels. Topics include the history of church-state relations and religious liberty, religion in the classroom, and expressions of religion in government. This book also covers the role of religion in specific areas of law such as contracts, taxation, employment, land use regulation, torts, criminal law, and domestic relations as well as in specialized contexts such as prisons and the military. Accessible to the general as well as the professional reader, this book will be of use to scholars, judges, practising lawyers, and the media.

Discriminatory Religious Schools and Tax Exempt Status

Discriminatory Religious Schools and Tax Exempt Status PDF Author: United States Commission on Civil Rights
Publisher: Washington, D.C. : United States Commission on Civil Rights
ISBN:
Category : Christian universities and colleges
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description
Freedom of religion and racially discriminatory private religious schools.