What the IRS was doing behind closed doors may soon be official policy in California
writes
Benjamin Duffy in his post on conservatives
Staring Down the Barrel of Weaponized Tax Code.
Last week, the State Senate voted to revoke the nonprofit status of
any group within the state that does not allow full participation of
homosexuals, a move aimed directly at the Boy Scouts of America.
According to the Associated Press, the bill “would require those
organizations to pay corporate taxes on donations, membership dues, camp
fees and other sources of income, and to obtain sellers permits and pay
sales taxes on food, beverages and homemade items sold at fundraisers.”
Groups that sponsor troops would also have their tax returns and
membership policies scrutinized by the Franchise Tax Board, California’s
version of the IRS.
If further proof was needed that the BSA’s partial surrender on the
homosexual issue only emboldened their opponents, here it is. Compromise
is not in the left’s vocabulary. Not until Dan Savage is taking your
son camping will they be happy, and probably not even then.
The thread that connects California’s proposed tax policy with the
IRS scandal of recent weeks is the unmistakable trend toward weaponizing
the tax code. What was once a neutral instrument used for the purpose
of collecting revenue for legitimate governmental functions is now
employed to punish behavior that powerful people don’t like. Lois Lerner
of IRS infamy had a concealed carry permit but the State of California
is carrying theirs right out in the open.
The government can indeed punish citizens monetarily. Until recently,
monetary punishments were called “fines” and they were extracted for
offenses such as parking in front of a fire hydrant.
California cannot
however, fine the Boy Scouts for their membership policy. Thirteen years
ago the Boy Scouts fought and won a legal case called Boy Scouts v.
Dale, which affirmed the organization’s right to freely associate.
Private organizations are private and, as such, have the right to set
their own membership requirements. Membership in a private club is not
an equal rights issue.
Yet the totalitarian impulse of Left Coast liberals knows no bounds.
What was once called a “fine” is now called a “tax” and is specifically
targeted at ostracized groups such as the Boy Scouts, even if what they
are doing has been upheld as constitutionally protected behavior by the
Supreme Court. If the tax code were an “assault rifle,” the Boy Scouts
would be looking down the barrel of it.
A fine by any other name is still a fine. Fines disguised as taxes
that are used to punish constitutionally protected behavior are
unconstitutional. It would be no different than having a free speech tax
or a free exercise of religion tax, both of which the left would love,
I’m sure.
… The precedent is chilling. The tax code could be used to punish
churches that don’t recognize same-sex marriages or prefer only male
clergy. Religious organizations could be required to include atheists.
Liberals should worry too. If California can point the muzzle of their
tax code at the Boy Scouts for refusing to allow homosexual adult
leaders, Arkansas can do the same thing because the BSA now permits
homosexual youth. It would be just as wrong for socially conservative
states to use their tax code to punish groups it doesn’t like. This one
trend that’s bad for goose and gander alike.
Update: thanks to
Instapundit for the link
