Washington, D.C. – Congressman Ron Paul today urged his colleagues on Capitol Hill to abolish the IRS withholding rules, as a Baptist congregation in Indiana faces seizure of its church building for allegedly failing to participate in the withholding regime. Paul introduced the “Cost of Government Awareness Act” (HR 4855) earlier this year, which would eliminate the withholding tax deception and put an end to forced collection of income taxes by employers. Recent national news stories centering on the plight of the Indiana Baptist Temple have sparked renewed interest in Paul’s legislation.

“Had Congress passed my bill, the Baptist Temple might have been spared,” Paul stated. “Instead we are about to witness an extraordinary and unprecedented event in U.S. history: the seizure of a church by federal agents because of a tax debt. The Temple, like an increasing number of private employers, simply objects to being forced to act as an agent for the IRS by collecting withholding taxes. It’s a crime that the congregation may lose its home because of a principled refusal based on religious faith to do the job of the IRS.”

Under current rules, all employers (including churches and non-profit organizations) must withhold income taxes from employee paychecks, resulting in a presumptive interest-free loan by employees to the Treasury. Employers spend huge sums and countless hours complying with the withholding scheme. Worst of all, taxpayers are deceived by the direct removal of taxes from their paychecks. “The government knows that the easiest way to tax Americans is by taking payments directly from their paychecks,” Paul added. “The premise is that the taxpayer won’t miss the portion of his paycheck that he never gets.”

“It’s time to end the deception of withholding taxes and stop forcing employers to act as IRS collection agents,” Paul concluded. “The Indiana Baptist Temple unfortunately is just the latest victim of this terrible IRS practice. I want all employers, not just churches, to be free from rules which force them to act as IRS agents.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 12th, 2000 at 3:14 am and is filed under Press Releases. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.