http://www.atheists.org/ky/
The Kentucky Post
August 17, 2005
[excerpt]
Suit targets clergy tax exemption
Plaintiff: Violates state constitution
By Kevin Eigelbach Post staff reporter
Exempting ordained ministers from paying Boone County's occupational tax
violates the Kentucky Constitution.
That's the claim Union attorney Edwin Kagin makes in a lawsuit filed
Tuesday in Boone Circuit Court. Kagin, the Kentucky director of American
Atheists Inc., wants the court to strike down the ordinance that grants the
exemption.
"There are no special rights for clergy in Kentucky," Kagin said. "You
cannot favor one group of people over another in setting taxation."
Boone County Judge-Executive Gary Moore said he hadn't seen the lawsuit and
didn't want to comment on it until he heard a legal opinion.
Kagin's dispute with Boone Fiscal Court over the issue dates back to May
15, 2000, when the court passed the ordinance. The court did so in response
to a Kenton County ruling that such an exemption didn't violate the state
constitution, Boone County Administrator Jim Parsons said.
A pastor had filed suit against Lakeside Park after being cited for not
paying county and city occupational license fees. Kenton Circuit Judge
Patricia Summe said the tax infringed on the First Amendment right to
freedom of religion.
"We felt it was better that they be exempted rather than get involved in
litigation (from ministers)," Parsons said.
When he learned about the exemption, Kagin refused to pay any more Boone
County occupational taxes and licensing fees. After getting several warning
letters from the county, Kagin finally paid the back taxes in July, but
under protest.
Kagin contends the Boone County ordinance violates the state constitution's
requirement that no one be compelled to contribute to the salary or support
of any minister. He says it also violates the Kentucky Constitution's bar
of granting special privileges to "any man or set of men."
He wants a refund of the taxes he's paid since the exemption became law, as
well as refunds for any other members of American Atheists Inc. similarly
affected.
"This is about all of those laws throughout the country that provide tax
breaks and other direct or indirect benefits and support for churches and
other religious groups," Kagin said.
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Posting and reading from alt.politics.usa.constitution OR alt.education
The Rise of the Theocratic States of America
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocracy.htm
American Theocrats - Past and Present
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocrats.htm
The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
[and to join the discussion group for the above site and/or Separation of
Church and State in general, listed below]
HRSepCnS · Hampton Roads [Virginia] SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/
[Its not just Hampton Roads folks who are members, there are members from
all over the U.S. and a couple from overseas as well]
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.. . . You can't understand a phrase such as "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion" by syllogistic reasoning. Words
take their meaning from social as well as textual contexts, which is why "a
page of history is worth a volume of logic." New York Trust Co. v. Eisner,
256 U.S. 345, 349, 41 S.Ct. 506, 507, 65 L.Ed. 963 (1921) (Holmes, J.).
Sherman v. Community Consol. Dist. 21, 980 F.2d 437, 445 (7th Cir. 1992)
.. . .
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THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
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