More On The National Anthem Controversy
I just did a piece inspired by reaction to Colin Kaepernick declining to stand for the National Anthem. Although Kaepernick's stand or (unstand) is based on current...
Minister’s Vow Of Poverty Does Not Beat Income Tax – And Kent Hovind Update
And yet he still could have succeeded. I’m personally not sure about the IRS’s reasoning in Rev. Rul. 77-290, but the ruling exists and provides a roadmap for pastors who want to take a vow of poverty to avoid paying taxes: basically, they have to mean it. Here, if Pastor White had given up signatory authority over the bank account, he probably wouldn’t have had to pay taxes.
And, in that way, right or not, the IRS’s standard is remarkably clever. It says, “If you’re actually willing to give up your rights to the money, we’ll believe your vow of poverty, and treat you like you didn’t earn the money.” But the thing is, that’s a really steep price, and White was apparently unwilling to pay it. So he lost, and rightly.
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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.