IRS interfering with religious freedom

For years conservatives have been concerned that the IRS interferes with religious freedom when it threatens a church's tax exemption based on any political content of its teachings. Any statement in a sermon or printed literature that might be construed as a political endorsement of a conservative candidate can induce an IRS investigation. It seems obvious to me that this is a dangerous, direct violation of the First Amendment's protection of the right to practice religion. Most other conservatives agree, but it has been difficult to get anyone else interested in doing something about it.

In the past, political endorsements of liberal candidates have been largely ignored by the tax bureaucracy. Remember when Bill Clinton and other liberals have visited and campaigned in Democratically oriented churches in the guise of delivering a sermon? I've read about many such events; but never about the IRS questioning the right of those churches to hold such services.

Certainly I believe that it is bad religion for a church to associate preaching the Gospel with a politician's campaign, especially an unsavory politician. But that is only one of many bad religious ideas and practices. False religion is covered by the First Amendment just as true religion is. After all, what arm of government can be trusted to tell the difference? So I support the right of churches of any stripe to talk about whatever they want in their services.

Liberals have traditionally scoffed at such concerns, but a new IRS campaign may have them thinking twice. According to a November 8, 2005 article in the LA Times, the IRS has been investigating over 100 churches and other non-profits accused of "implicitly or explicitly" promoting candidates, whether liberal or conservative. Most recently they have zeroed in on All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, CA.

The offense? Just before the 2004 presidential election, a guest pastor preached a sermon condemning federal tax cuts and both the Vietnam and Iraq wars. Excerpts printed in the Times article show that the sermon might lead some listeners to vote against George Bush.

When the IRS letter arrived at the church, liberals suddenly became interested in the issue. For example, according to the Times article, Robert Edgar, general secretary of the liberal National Council of Churches, complained that the IRS action is "...a political witch hunt on George Regas and progressive ideology. It's got to stop."

Now that there is some liberal interest in the issue, the American Association of Evangelicals, a more conservative group, has proposed collaborating with the National Council of Churches to lobby against the IRS regulations that brought about the campaign. Maybe with support from across the political spectrum, they will have more success than conservatives alone have had.

I wish only the best for the church organizations battling the IRS. But I also believe that problems such as these are an inevitable consequence of the federal income tax and the system of tax exemptions. If it is possible for some people or organizations to be exempt from taxation, someone in government has to judge eligibility. This naturally leads to government interference in the activities of those who are exempt.

Thus the federal income tax system appears to be incompatible with rights such as freedom of speech and religion. On top of my perennial complaint that the system intrudes into everyone's business affairs with all of its reporting requirements, this problem reinforces my belief that we need to scrap the income tax in favor of a non-intrusive source of government revenue: tariffs and/or sales taxes.