Parsonage Showdown In Seventh Circuit This Week
Although you will see this dispute being framed as one between atheists and the religious, the guy who started all this is a member of the Churches of Christ who was upset about the particularly egregious parsonage shenanigans of his own denomination. (Churches of Christ isn’t exactly a denomination by its own terms, but to those outside of it, it looks like one.)
Robert Baty was an IRS revenue officer when he was asked about the case of a college basketball coach who was excluding part of his income as a housing allowance. The practice traces back to a revenue ruling that the IRS issued under pressure from Congressmen Burleson and Bush to bail Abilene College out of a payroll audit.
Preacher Taxed On Regular Gifts From Congregation Members
While he was at Tuskegee University, Bishop Felton first learned about the notion of “handshake money” – donations made directly to the pastor on the way out of church. He didn’t like the way that it was done and resolved that he would handle it differently when he had his own church.
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Over and over again courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging one’s affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everybody does so, rich or poor; and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands: taxes are enforced exactions, not voluntary contributions. To demand more in the name of morals is mere cant.