Religion Law Quiz #29 (Taxes & Religious Freedom)

"Hallelujah!!!" Pastor John exclaimed.  It just dawned on the pastor that if a central tenet of his denomination is that the payment of taxes is wrong, then members of his church can claim a religious exemption to paying state and federal taxes thereby enabling them to better support themselves and the poor and needy.  Alas, this pastor is headed for a fast realization that his plan won't work.  Why? 

 

(Scroll down for the answer)

 

 

 

Sorry, Pastor John.  A 1982 Supreme Court previously plowed this ground, and, assuming there is no explicit statutory exemption, one cannot escape the payment of taxes simply because it may interfere with their religious belief.  The case dealt with an appeal by a member of the Amish faith who employed various other workers.  The employer sought an exemption to paying social security taxes beyond the statutory exemption created by Congress.  The Supreme Court stated in relevant part.  

 

Unlike the situation presented in Wisconsin v. Yoder, supra, it would be difficult to accommodate the comprehensive social security system with myriad exceptions flowing from a wide variety of religious beliefs. The obligation to pay the social security tax initially is not fundamentally different from the obligation to pay income taxes; the difference-in theory at least-is that the social security tax revenues are segregated for use only in furtherance of the statutory program. There is no principled way, however, for purposes of this case, to distinguish between general taxes and those imposed under the Social Security Act. If, for example, a religious adherent believes war is a sin, and if a certain percentage of the federal budget can be identified as devoted to war-related activities, such individuals would have a similarly valid claim to be exempt from paying that percentage of the income tax. The tax system could not function if denominations were allowed to challenge the tax system because tax payments were spent in a manner that violates their religious belief. See, e.g., Lull v. Commissioner, 602 F.2d 1166 (CA4 1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 1014, 100 S.Ct. 664, 62 L.Ed.2d 643 (1980); Autenrieth v. Cullen, 418 F.2d 586 (CA9 1969), cert. denied, 397 U.S. 1036, 90 S.Ct. 1353, 25 L.Ed.2d 647 (1970). Because the broad public interest in maintaining a sound tax system is of such a high order, religious belief in conflict with the payment of taxes affords no basis for resisting the tax.

 

United States v. Lee, 455 U.S. 252, 259–60, 102 S. Ct. 1051, 1056–57, 71 L. Ed. 2d 127 (1982)

 

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