Diverse Faith Leaders and Religious Nonprofits Renew Call to Repeal the “Parking Lot Tax”

WASHINGTON–Ecumenical and interfaith leaders renewed their call to urge Congress to repeal a change to the Internal Revenue Code that will imminently tax nonprofit organizations—including houses of worship—for the cost of parking and transit benefits they provide to their employees. Section 512(a)(7) has been commonly referred to as the “parking lot tax”.

Leadership from a variety of nonprofits, religious and educational institutions, and houses of worship sent a letter to the House Ways and Means Committee Chairman and Ranking Member asking for Congressional action to address this concern.

The letter states, in part: “This provision effectively creates an income tax on churches for the first time in U.S. history,” and it expresses concern “about the troubling precedent this sets by entangling the IRS with houses of worship.” The letter “urge[s] Congress to swiftly pass a bipartisan, full repeal of Section 512(a)(7) before taxes are due this year.”

Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Chairman of the USCCB Committee for Religious Liberty, and Bishop Frank J. Dewane of Venice, Chairman of the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, joined signatories from the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, The Jewish Federations of North America, Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, The Episcopal Church, National Association of Evangelicals, Seventh-day Adventist Church North American Division, and other nonprofit organizations concerned about this new tax in signing the letter.

A link to the letter can be found here: https://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/religious-liberty/upload/Coalition-Letter-Nonprofit-parking-lot-tax-3-1-19.pdf
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Keywords: Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, Bishop Frank Dewane, USCCB, Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, parking lot tax, Section 512(a)(7), religious freedom, religious liberty

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