It was a violation of the Constitution’s separation of powers when Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) demanded the financial records of two Atlanta ministries and four others nationwide. It seems no one told the Senator that he is part of the Legislative branch, and investigating criminal activity is the job of the other branches of government — the Justice Department in the Executive branch, and the Judiciary.
This week lawyers for Atlanta Reverends Eddie Long and Creflo Dollar and three of the other ministries targeted by Senator Grassley informed the Senate that would not comply with the request for financial records.
A formal response from Reverend Dollar’s attorney claims the request would trample on the constitutional rights of people to practice religious beliefs without government interference. “… we believe that the religious doctrine and practices of a church should not be held out for the world to evaluate as a result of responding to Congressional inquiries.” The most delicious part of the letter comes when it tells Grassley to go get a subpoena or to refer his request for a review to the Internal Revenue Service.
Senator Grassley says that the Senate has the authority to review spending patterns of any non-profit organization because the rest of American taxpayers have to make up for the non-profits’ tax-exempt status. This is consistant with the statist views of both Republicrats and Demublicans that all money belongs to the government.
The Libertarian Party Of Georgia believes this is, as Douglas Adam stated so eloquently in Hitchiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, a load of dingo’s kidneys. Our party platform states “Since we believe that all persons are entitled to keep the fruits of their labor, we see no moral difference between common theft and the forcible collection of money or goods from individuals at all levels of government.”
Because of this core belief, our platform goes on to:
- Recognize the right of any individual to challenge the payment of taxes on moral, religious, legal, or constitutional grounds;
- Support unconditional amnesty for all individuals who are accused, or have ever been convicted, of tax resistance; and
- Oppose…the elimination of deductions [and] exemptions…in the spurious name of…alleged ‘neutrality to the free market,’ because no tax can ever be neutral to the free market.
The Libertarian Party of Georgia applauds Reverends Dollar and Long and the three other pastors who have declined to justify their rights to the US Senate.
