Progressives Muzzle Churches Through the Tax Code

Holy week is here. Christians celebrate Easter; Jews Passover and the godless heathens will worship at the altar of Big Government on April 17. It’s a cornucopia of religious fervor. Can I get an Amen! And for the socialist: Can we confiscate a dollar!

Should we be surprised that Confiscation Day is in proximity to Easter and Passover? Since the time of the Civil War, the Progressives have yearned for a holiday of their own. They had a conundrum: how can we expand our power and revenue stream, and at the same time muzzle the preachers who oppose our agenda. How can we accomplish this in one felled swoop?

The Progressives had an epiphany. They passed the 1894 Tariff Act:

US churches' federal income tax exemption was not formerly enacted as legislation until the Tariff Act was passed by Congress in 1894, providing tax exemptions to "corporations, companies, or associations organized and conducted solely for charitable, religious, or educational purposes." [51] This was the first time the federal government declared any group exempt from paying taxes, as opposed to its earlier practice of only listing entities subject to taxation. [38] Although the Tariff Act was declared unconstitutional in 1896, the church tax exemption was reinstated by the Revenue Act of 1913, which defined the modern American income tax system. [45] [46] On Jan. 14, 1924, the US Supreme Court interpreted the reason for the exemption in Trinidad v. Sagrada Orden: "Evidently the exemption is made in recognition of the benefit which the public derives" from churches' "corporate activities." [47]

The very idea that the federal government can assign a tax code to religious organizations is a violation of the First Amendment. Freedom of speech, association and religion is a God given right. No man or government should have the ability to take that away. But that is exactly what the Progressives did with the Revenue Act of 1913 and 1894.

So the next time you here of a church under threat of losing their tax exempt status for speaking out against the tyrannical policies of the Progressives, you’ll know where this abomination originated.

Source: http://churchesandtaxes.procon.org/#background

http://thenewamerican.com/history/american/1789