To Define and to Rule: The IRS and Clergy Self-Employment

Abstract

This paper explores the implications of recent Internal Revenue Service rulings that have challenged the employment classification of selected religious leaders. Such actions raise important questions concerning the possible coercive actions of the state in shaping religious life. This work explores the role of ideology in such decisions, as well as the questionable role of bureaucratic discretion in these decisions. The IRS uses the employer/employee paradigm, which is central to corporate capitalist ideology to define the clergy/community relationship. The employer/employee paradigm conflicts with the communitarian ideology inherent in many religious communities. This article explores the significance of the free exercise and the establishment clauses of the federal constitution and argues that the present clergy status (self-employed) minimizes the conflict between church and state. This leaves the religious community free to debate the role of leadership within its internal polities.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Anderson, E. (1990). The ethical limitations of the market. Economics and Philosophy, 6, 179-205.

Bob Jones University v. United States, 461 U.S. 574 (1983).

Boyte, H. C. , & Evans, S. M. (1986). The sources of democratic change. Tikkun: A Quarterly Jewish Critique of Politics, Culture and Society, 1(1), 49-55.

Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc., v. Hialeah, 61 Law Week 4587 (1993).

Committee on Ways and Means: House of Representatives , Eighty-Third Congress, Second Session on H.R. 7199 (April 1954).

Dugger, W. M. (1989). Corporate hegemony. New York: Greenwood Press.

Employment Division Department of Human Resources v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990).

Frederickson, H. G. (1990). Public administration and social equality. Public Administration Review, 50, 228-237.

Gillette v. United States, 401 U.S. 437 (1971).

10.

Goldman, S. (1991). Constitutional law, cases and essays: Second Edition. New York: Harper Collins Publishers

11.

Hinckley, C. J. (1990). Tocqueville on religious truth and political necessity. Polity, XXIII, 39-52.

12.

Hock, R. F. (1980). The social context of Paul's ministry: Tentmaking and apostleship. Philadelphia: Fortress Press.

13.

James S. Cosby and Patricia S. Cosby, Petitioners v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Service, T. C. Summary Opinion 1987-141 (1987).

14.

Johnson, A. T. (1987). The family: The need for sound policy, not rhetoric and ideology. Public Administration Review, 47, 280-284.

15.

Kedroff v. Saint Nicholas Cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church, 344 U.S. 94 (1952).

16.

Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602 (1971).

17.

Lodge, G. C., II . (1987). Introduction: Ideology and country analysis. In G. G. Lodge, II , & E. F. Vogel (Eds.), Ideology and national competitiveness (pp. 1-28). Boston: Harvard University Press.

18.

Matis, G. J. (1990). Dilemma in day care: The virtues of administrative accommodation. The University of Chicago Law Review, 57, 573-601.

19.

Miller, M. (1991). The IRS finds invisible employees. Personnel Journal (October), 56-60.

20.

Milner, K. (1993). Leaving secular rights on the church steps: The court of appeals "tinkers" with the church-minister employment relationship. (Black Snyder, 471 N.W.2d 715 [Minn. Ct. App., 1991], review denied [Minn. Aug. 29, 1991]). William Mitchell Law Review, 19, 187-210.

21.

Prince v. Massachusetts, 321 U.S. 158,167 (1944).

22.

Reiman, J. H. (1984). The rich get richer and the poor get prison: Ideology, class, and criminal justice. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

23.

Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. 145 (1879).

24.

Rosenbloom, D. H. (1992). The Bill of Rights and the ongoing administrative revolution. PAQ (Fall), 295-302.

25.

Roth, R. W. , & Biebl, A. R. (1991). A taxing matter: When is a worker an independent contractor? How to avoid getting caught in the IRS crackdown. Journal of Accountancy (May), 34-39.

26.

Schillebeeckx, E. C. (1989). Ministry: Leadership in the community of Jesus Christ. New York: Crossroad.

27.

Schuman, D. , & Olufs, D. W., Ill . (1993). Public administration in the United States. Lexington: D.C. Heath and Company.

28.

Stone, H. (1985). The changing pattern of female crime: A police perspective. In I. L. Moyer (Ed.), The changing roles of women in the criminal justice system. Prospect Heights: Waveland Press.

29.

Ventriss, C. (1989). Toward a public philosophy of public administration: A civic perspective of the public. Public Administration Reivew, 49, 173-179.

30.

West, W. F. (1988). The growth of internal conflict in administrative regulation. Public Administration Review (July/August), 48(4), 773-782.

31.

Witte, J. F. (1993). A classic debate revisited: The policy/administration dichotomy in tax politics. International Review of Public Administration, 16(8), 1177-1198.