this IRS Pastors who recognize political candidates for the pulpit do not have to risk losing their tax-free status.
The move effectively required religious organizations to carve for religious organizations from the rarely used IRS rules, which was established in 1954 and named after their then-called. Lyndon Johnson.
In a joint court application designed to end ongoing cases against the IRS, tax collection agencies and the National Religious Broadcasting Association (an evangelical media alliance) and other plaintiffs asked the Texas federal court to prevent the government from enforcing Johnson’s Johnson amendment to the plaintiff.
The Johnson Amendment is an amendment to the U.S. tax law in 1954, which prohibits tax-free organizations, including the church, from acknowledging or opposing political candidates.
Christian Media Group and others filed a lawsuit against the IRS last August, noting that the amendment violated their First Amendment for freedom of expression and freedom of exercise of religion, as well as other legal protections. On Monday, the IRS and plaintiffs wrote that the Johnson Amendment should be explained “to avoid religious services related to religious services through communication channels of their usual affairs of faith, thereby communicating from the House of Worship to the congregation.”
The New York Times first reported news submitted by the court.
The IRS generally does not enforce the Johnson Amendment for rhetoric related to election politics.
President Donald Trump He once said he wanted to get rid of the Johnson amendment And in 2017, an executive order directed the Ministry of Finance to ignore the rule.
“I will get rid of and completely destroy the Johnson Amendment and allow our faith to speak freely on behalf of the free retribution,” Trump said in his 2017 National Prayer Breakfast.
Representatives from the IRS and the National Religious Broadcasting Association did not respond to the Associated Press request for comment.
Earlier this year, Republican lawmakers introduced legislation to remove the Johnson Amendment.
