Politics, Taxes, and the Pulpit

Nina J. Crimm is Visiting Professor of Law and Visiting Scholar in Residence at the Arizona State University Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law and Professor of Law at St. John's University School of Law in New York. She is the author of numerous articles and books involving taxation and First Amendment issues relevant to non-profit organizations and philanthropy and writes a quarterly column, The Quarterly Commentator, for The Exempt Organization Tax Review. Laurence H. Winer is Professor of Law and Faculty Fellow, Center for Law, Science, & Innovation at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. Professor Winer is the Faculty Editor of Jurimetrics: The Journal of Law, Science, and Technology, and is a member of the First Amendment Advisory Council of the Media Institute in Washington, D.C., an independent, non-profit research foundation specializing in issues of media and communications policy.

Introduction
I. Passionate Watchmen
II. The Statutory and Constitutional Background In Brief
III. The Issues in Three Dimensions
IV. A Roadmap

Chapter One
How the Government Benefits Religion
I. Introduction
II. Founding Stories: Quests for Religious Accommodations
III. Defining "Religion"
IV. Legislatively-Created Accommodations for "Religion"
V. The Cumulative Effect of Religious Accommodations
VI. Conclusion

Chapter Two
Tax Exemption for Houses of Worship: Not a Foregone Conclusion, Yet Conditional
I. Introduction
II. Religion and Taxes in Colonial America and the Early American Republic
III. Cementing the Federal Income Tax Exemption for Religious Organizations: Not A Foregone Conclusion
IV. Are the Income Tax Exemption and Contribution Deduction Tax Subsidies to Houses of Worship?
V. The Prohibition on § 501(c)(3) Organizations' Political Campaign Speech
VI. Problems Engendered by Broad, Vague, and Ambiguous Legislation And I.R.S. Interpretations
VII. Conclusion

Chapter Three
The First Amendment's Religion Clauses: Mandate, Permit, or Prohibit Congress to Tax Houses of Worship
I. Introduction
II. The Religion Clauses: Congress's Authority to Tax Religious Organizations
III. Government Aid to Religion Factored Through Individual Choice
IV. Conclusion

Chapter Four
Free Speech and Religiously Motivated Political Campaign Speech - General Principles
I. Introduction
II. Modern Free Speech Jurisprudence
III. The § 501(c)(3) Restriction on Political Campaign Speech
IV. Campaign Finance Reform: Lessons for Houses of Worship
V. Free Speech, Free Exercise, and the Establishment Clause
VI. Viewpoint Discrimination
VII. What Should Houses of Worship Do?
VIII. Conclusion

Chapter Five
Judicial Review of the Statutory Ban on Political Campaign Speech
I. Introduction
II. Unconstitutional Conditions
III. Three Overlapping Judicial Approaches
IV. Balancing Interests
V. Conclusion

Chapter Six
Reconciling the Irreconcilable
I. Introduction: Our Proposals
II. Part One: Legislative Modifications to I.R.C. § 501(c)(3) and § 170
III. Part Two: Creation of a New Tax Classification in I.R.C. § 501(c)
IV. Part Three: Amendment of I.R.C. § 527 and § 4955
V. Part Four: Clarity In Legislation and Regulation
VI. Our Proposals Compared To Other Approaches
VII. A Decision Awaits Congress
VIII. Conclusion


Appendix One
Additional Tax and Non-Tax Benefits
I. Federal Tax Statutory Accommodations
II. Federal and State Non-tax Statutory and Regulatory Benefits

Appendix Two
The Potential Value of the State Property Tax Deduction to House of Worship