President Donald Trump has pledged to repeal a 50-year-old tax law that prohibits churches and other tax-exempt organizations from participating in political campaigns. If successful, the repeal could deal a major blow to the separation of church and state.
Source/Credit: The Huffington Post
By Antonia Blumberg | February 2, 2017
The president wants to help churches become the new super PACs.
President Donald Trump has pledged to repeal a 50-year-old tax law that prohibits churches and other tax-exempt organizations from participating in political campaigns. If successful, the repeal could deal a major blow to the separation of church and state.
In an address to politicians and religious leaders gathered for the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, Trump declared: “I will get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment.”
The Johnson Amendment is a provision in the U.S. tax code named for Lyndon B. Johnson, who introduced it in Congress while he was still a senator. Congress passed the amendment in 1954, banning 501(c)(3) organizations ― which includes churches and charities ― from engaging in political campaign activity. Such activity includes publicly endorsing and opposing candidates, contributing to campaign funds and distributing materials in favor or opposition of any candidate.
The Internal Revenue Service upholds the prohibition accordingly, investigating churches and faith leaders who use their tax-exempt platforms to engage in political organizing of this nature.
The amendment aims to preserve an already precarious church-state divide by limiting religious organizations’ ability to sway elections. But for Trump, repealing the amendment appears to be an issue of religious freedom. At Thursday’s event, the president claimed the law undermines Americans’ “right to worship according to our own beliefs,” thus conflating political campaigning and religious worship.
Trump could propose changes to the current tax code, but only Congress has the power to officially repeal the amendment. But the president could effectively nullify the law by directing the IRS not to enforce it, tax law professor David Herzig told The Washington Post. The GOP currently holds a majority in Congress.
President Donald Trump has pledged to repeal a 50-year-old tax law that prohibits churches and other tax-exempt organizations from participating in political campaigns. If successful, the repeal could deal a major blow to the separation of church and state.
In an address to politicians and religious leaders gathered for the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, Trump declared: “I will get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment.”
The Johnson Amendment is a provision in the U.S. tax code named for Lyndon B. Johnson, who introduced it in Congress while he was still a senator. Congress passed the amendment in 1954, banning 501(c)(3) organizations ― which includes churches and charities ― from engaging in political campaign activity. Such activity includes publicly endorsing and opposing candidates, contributing to campaign funds and distributing materials in favor or opposition of any candidate.
The Internal Revenue Service upholds the prohibition accordingly, investigating churches and faith leaders who use their tax-exempt platforms to engage in political organizing of this nature.
The amendment aims to preserve an already precarious church-state divide by limiting religious organizations’ ability to sway elections. But for Trump, repealing the amendment appears to be an issue of religious freedom. At Thursday’s event, the president claimed the law undermines Americans’ “right to worship according to our own beliefs,” thus conflating political campaigning and religious worship.
Trump could propose changes to the current tax code, but only Congress has the power to officially repeal the amendment. But the president could effectively nullify the law by directing the IRS not to enforce it, tax law professor David Herzig told The Washington Post. The GOP currently holds a majority in Congress.
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Antonia Blumberg is Associate Religion Editor, The Huffington Post
Read original post here: USA: Trump Vows To ‘Destroy’ The Law That Bans Churches From Endorsing Candidates
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