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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><h1><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";font-weight:normal'>This will help to bring tax equity to those of us who aren’t interested in providing tax relief for every crackpot who calls him/herself a minister. I’m betting that there are several local examples -<o:p></o:p></span></h1><h1><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";font-weight:normal'>Rose Huskey<o:p></o:p></span></h1><h1><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Judge strikes down law that gives clergy members tax-free housing allowances<o:p></o:p></span></h1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><img width=300 height=189 id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.jpg@01CEE8ED.0EDF2000" alt="http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/host.madison.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/0c/d0cb1c97-f41a-5a21-b062-7f03f989bd10/51e6d989d7950.preview-300.jpg"></span><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>A federal judge has found unconstitutional a law that lets clergy members avoid paying income taxes on compensation that is designated part of a housing allowance.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>The <a href="http://ffrf.org/images/FFRF%20v%20Geithner%20-%20Parsonage%20Exemption.pdf">decision</a> Friday by U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb could have far-reaching financial ramifications for pastors, who currently can use the untaxed income to pay rental housing costs or the costs of home ownership, including mortgage payments and property taxes.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>“It’s a really big deal,” said Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, which filed the lawsuit. “A church currently could pay a minister $50,000 but designate $20,000 of it a housing allowance so that only $30,000 would be taxed as salary.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Crabb acknowledged in her decision that the exemption is a boon to ministers, referencing a 2002 statement by then-U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad of Minnesota that the tax exemption would save clergy members $2.3 billion in taxes from 2002-2007. But she said the magnitude of the benefit only underscores what’s wrong with the law.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>The exemption “provides a benefit to religious persons and no one else, even though doing so is not necessary to alleviate a special burden on religious exercise,” Crabb wrote.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>The defendants in the case are U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and acting IRS commissioner Daniel Werfel. Attempts to reach those agencies late Friday were unsuccessful.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Crabb said the defendants did not identify a reason that a requirement on ministers to pay taxes on a housing allowance is more burdensome for them than for the many millions of others who must pay taxes on income used for housing expenses.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Gaylor called the lawsuit “a sleeper,” saying it has received little media attention and may not be widely known by religious organizations. That will no doubt change with this win, she said. Given the dollar figures at stake, she expects clergy members to pressure the White House to appeal the decision to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>“Once the clergy get wind of it, I expect they will be very upset,” she said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Crabb is a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>The law, passed by Congress in 1954, allows a clergy member to use the untaxed income to purchase a home, and then, in a practice known as “double dipping,” deduct interest paid on the mortgage and property taxes, the foundation said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>“The court’s decision does not evince hostility to religion — nor should it even seem controversial,” foundation attorney Richard L. Bolton said in a statement. “The court has simply recognized the reality that a tax-free housing allowance available only to ministers is a significant benefit from the government unconstitutionally provided on the basis of religion.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Clergy may exempt from taxable income up to the fair market rental value of their home, a measure particularly helpful to well-heeled pastors, Gaylor said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>“When you’re dealing with some of these mega-church pastors with huge mansions, they can be paid an enormous amount in housing allowances,” she said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>On its website, GuideStone, a Christian financial services provider based in Dallas, calls the housing allowance “the most important tax benefit available to ministers.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><br>Read more: <a href="http://host.madison.com/news/local/judge-strikes-down-law-that-gives-clergy-members-tax-free/article_b8b1c816-bd2b-5f46-9d5a-68c5ad0ed39d.html#ixzz2la1FLsiR"><span style='color:#003399'>http://host.madison.com/news/local/judge-strikes-down-law-that-gives-clergy-members-tax-free/article_b8b1c816-bd2b-5f46-9d5a-68c5ad0ed39d.html#ixzz2la1FLsiR</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></body></html>