Oh, good heavens. Of course you have to pay taxes. I’m Amy E. Feldman.
An Oregon man who was convicted of failure to file a tax return appealed his conviction, arguing that under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, he shouldn’t have to pay because he said taxes were used to fund abortions, to which he was religiously opposed.
The Ninth Circuit just ruled against him in an opinion that reads like a “how many times do we have to go over this?” sigh of exasperation, stating, “both this Circuit and the United States Supreme Court have repeatedly rejected the proposition that a taxpayer may withhold tax money owed because taxes support expenditures the taxpayer finds objectionable.”
The court went on to say there is broad public interest in maintaining a sound tax system, free of what they call, “myriad exceptions flowing from a wide variety of religious beliefs.” So if you don’t like how the government spends your money, don’t expect your prayers not to have to pay taxes to be answered by the court.
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