Montana Court Strikes Down Tax Credit
January 1st, 2019
The Montana Supreme Court recently struck down a tax credit for donations that fund scholarships for students at private schools.
The Montana Supreme Court recently struck down a tax credit for donations that fund scholarships for students at private schools on the basis that these credits are a type of unconstitutional aid offered to attend religiously affiliated schools. In its decision, the court said that the $150 tax credit is designed to aid private schools in Montana and that most of these schools are associated with religion. The Montana state constitution forbids any type of direct or indirect payment of aid or public money to any school that is controlled by a church or religious body. Two judges in the case dissented on the basis that the majority overstepped its authority by deciding against the tax credit law.
The Future of the Case
The Institute for Justice, which is a law firm that specializes in school-choice, has already announced that it intends to appeal the ruling to the United States Supreme Court. The institute has stated that this decision takes scholarships away from needy families throughout the state of Montana.
Other people have responded positively to the decision. The director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Montana has called the decision a significant victory for Montana taxpayers, stating “it is unconstitutional for taxpayers to foot the bill for private, religious schools.”
It remains to be seen what impact this case will have on other similar cases involving a tax credit and private, religiously affiliated school funding.
Federal Laws Concerning Government Funding of Religious Organizations
There are a number of different federal and state laws that allow religiously affiliated organizations to provide publicly funded social services. Both of these types of laws prohibit the payment of public funds to religious organizations for religious purposes.
One of the most important of these types of laws is the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which states that Congress is prohibited from making any laws regarding the establishment of religion.
The United States Supreme Court has repeatedly stated that faith based organization are not able to use direct government support to fund inherently religious activities. The phrase “inherently religious” means that an organization can not use any part of a direct Federal grant to fund religious worship. Instead, organizations are only able to use government finances to support non-religious social services.
Some religions organizations that have religious activities, however, are still able to receive financial support. Instead, a religious organization is simply prohibited from receiving government funds to support religious activities. To keep these two activities different, some religious organizations to decide to set up separate charitable organization to receive government funds which are separate from the part of the organizations that practices faith-based activities.
Continue Reading the Universal Life Church’s Blog
While many of the laws that separate church and state have existed since the creation of our country, each year there are still a number of cases involving the interpretation of these laws. By reading the Universal Life Church’s blog, you can remain up to date with these various developments in the law.
(image courtesy of Redd Angelo)
