U.S.

Shalt They Pay Taxes?

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

November 15, 2000 / 9:54 AM EST / CBS

Federal marshals seized an Indianapolis church that failed to pay its taxes Tuesday, in what might have been an opening skirmish in a looming battle between government and churches that reject secular laws.

The seizure of the Indianapolis Baptist Temple to satisfy a $6 million tax debt ended a 92-day vigil by its followers.

The Baptist Temple stopped withholding federal income and Social Security taxes from its employees' paychecks in 1984, saying the church's duty to obey God allowed no room for man-made laws and that withholding taxes would make it an agent of the government.

With penalties and interest, the IRS figured the bill was $6 million dollars — the exact value of the church property, reports CBS News Correspondent Sharyl Attkisson.

The U.S. Supreme Court had cleared the way for the seizure last month. U.S. marshals rushed through a side door into the church, where six or seven people were gathered in prayer. The marshals wheeled out the church's pastor emeritus on a gurney when he refused to leave.

"The purge has started," said the Rev. Greg J. Dixon, as the marshals wheeled him out.

"We had a promise from the Bush administration. We had every reason to believe there was a moratorium…They were going to dismiss the case. We had a deal, and they welshed on the deal," Dixon said.

The current pastor, Dixon's son, Rev. Greg A. Dixon, was not at the church when officers arrived but rushed to the scene and sat down in front of the building.

"The fight is still not over," the younger Dixon said. "We are going to continue this fight for religious liberty.

"They have trampled the First Amendment; they have desecrated a house of God," he said. "They have brought God's judgment down upon them, their souls, their wives, their children, their political careers. I feel sorry for them."

Greg Dixon leads a national movement for so-called unregistered churches that refuse tax-exempt status and all government money.

The IRS requires churches to pay federal withholding tax for employees who make a little more than $100 a year. Religious organizations with objections to paying such taxes can refuse, but then the employees must pay their own share. Employees who conscientiously object to paying those taxes can file for an exemption, but only if their church is a tax-exempt organization.

Unregistered churches argue that since God is sovereign the churches representing him cannot be taxed, and that paying taxes on behalf of church employees violated the separation of church and state.

In addition, for an employee or church to file for an exemption would be a recognition by the church of the government's authority over it, Greg Dixon's organization, the American Coalition of Unregistered Churches, argues.

Greg Dixon's standoff with the IRS drew thousands of sympathizers, but he rejecte help from militia groups, vowing to resist peacefully.

The unregistered church movement is growing, and could involve hundreds of churches.

"I think the thing that holds everyone together in the unregistered churches movement, (the) free churches movement, is the idea that churches should be only answering to god's law," said Mark Potok, who tracks anti-government groups for the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The federal government until now had never seized a church for failing to pay taxes, said Richard Hammar, an attorney for the Springfield, Mo.-based Assemblies of God church and an expert on churches and tax law.

"To have the IRS come in and seize the church's property, that is an extraordinary event unparalleled in American history," Hammar has said.

Reconciling God's law with man's law even made the U.S. marshal in charge of the raid uncomfortable.

"Obviously when we raise our hand to take an oath, we don't give consideration to our personal feelings and beliefs," said the marshal, Frank Anderson. "Equally, it was as difficult on the church members as it was for us. But we have a duty and we have done our duty."

Nobody was hurt or arrested during the raid. Greg Dixon says his unregistered church movement will continue.