Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Stop the Tax on Religion

Stop the Tax on Religion
 
As the Supreme Court recently ruled, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly known as Obamacare, is a tax and our religious institutions will now be taxed. This is being done by provisions tucked away in various corners of the bill that are additional taxes to fund the ACA.  As the law currently stands, a tax can be imposed on employers that have objections to mandates in Obamacare, based on the core tenets of their beliefs. According to a February 2012 Congressional Research Service Report, insurers and employers that do not comply with the HHS mandate could face a federal tax of $100 per day per employee, or a yearly tax of $36,500 per employee. Can our religious institutions afford paying the government this amount and still fund local causes and charities? This will stop much of the money now going to local soup kitchens and food banks from religious institutions that fund programs like these.
 
If I remember correctly, our constitution allows us to practice our religion without interference by government. Also, the progressive tax system was set up so that religious institutions were never taxed. Why does the government now feel obligated to tax all religious institutions? Is it because they need money to pay for something that was originally estimated to cost us $800,000,000,000 ($800 billion) and now has an estimated cost of over $2,000,000,000,000 ($2 trillion)? This tax is more than $2000 per taxpayer per year. The government is literally robbing Peter to pay Paul (pun intended).
 
Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-WI, has authored a new bill to remedy this. It's called the Religious Freedom Tax Repeal Act, H.R. 6097. Please call your Representatives and urge them to co-sponsor the Sensenbrenner bill, which will stop the tax on religious freedom!

Quote from James Garfield "Freedom can never yield its fullness of blessings so long as the law or its administration places the smallest obstacle in the pathway of any virtuous citizen."

Randy Kubetz
Wisconsin Citizens Involvement

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