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    RE: Constitutionality of Law Removing The Tax-Exempt Status of Religious Organizations If They Endorse A Candidate For Election

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    Allana Nacino
    A law removing the tax-exempt status of religious organizations that endorse political candidates is constitutional. While tax exemptions are granted to religious groups under the principle of separation of church and state, they are not absolute. The constitution only protects the separation of church and state, so if a religious organization engages in non-religious activities like endorsing election candidates, it loses its status as being exclusively for religious purposes. Therefore, removing its tax exemption on those grounds would be valid. Foreign jurisdictions also condition tax exemptions for religious groups on not participating in political campaigns. Such a law in the Philippines would be consistent with both the constitution and the goal of minimizing state interference with religion.

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    RE: Constitutionality of Law Removing The Tax-Exempt Status of Religious Organizations If They Endorse A Candidate For Election

    Uploaded by

    Allana Nacino
    28 views2 pages
    A law removing the tax-exempt status of religious organizations that endorse political candidates is constitutional. While tax exemptions are granted to religious groups under the principle of separation of church and state, they are not absolute. The constitution only protects the separation of church and state, so if a religious organization engages in non-religious activities like endorsing election candidates, it loses its status as being exclusively for religious purposes. Therefore, removing its tax exemption on those grounds would be valid. Foreign jurisdictions also condition tax exemptions for religious groups on not participating in political campaigns. Such a law in the Philippines would be consistent with both the constitution and the goal of minimizing state interference with religion.

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    Memo

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    427008316-Memorandum

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    A law removing the tax-exempt status of religious organizations that endorse political candidates is constitutional. While tax exemptions are granted to religious groups under the principle of separation of church and state, they are not absolute. The constitution only protects the separation of church and state, so if a religious organization engages in non-religious activities like endorsing election candidates, it loses its status as being exclusively for religious purposes. Therefore, removing its tax exemption on those grounds would be valid. Foreign jurisdictions also condition tax exemptions for religious groups on not participating in political campaigns. Such a law in the Philippines would be consistent with both the constitution and the goal of minimizing state interference with religion.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    28 views2 pages

    RE: Constitutionality of Law Removing The Tax-Exempt Status of Religious Organizations If They Endorse A Candidate For Election

    Uploaded by

    Allana Nacino
    A law removing the tax-exempt status of religious organizations that endorse political candidates is constitutional. While tax exemptions are granted to religious groups under the principle of separation of church and state, they are not absolute. The constitution only protects the separation of church and state, so if a religious organization engages in non-religious activities like endorsing election candidates, it loses its status as being exclusively for religious purposes. Therefore, removing its tax exemption on those grounds would be valid. Foreign jurisdictions also condition tax exemptions for religious groups on not participating in political campaigns. Such a law in the Philippines would be consistent with both the constitution and the goal of minimizing state interference with religion.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    RE: Constitutionality of law removing the tax-exempt status of religious organizations if

    they endorse a candidate for election

    A law removing the tax-exempt status of religious organizations if they endorse a candidate for
    election is constitutional because the tax exemption granted to religious institutions and
    organizations by the Constitution and the Tax Code is not absolute. Such exemption was granted
    to the said institutions and organizations in conformity with Section 6, Article II of the 1987
    Philippine Constitution which states that the separation of Church and State shall be inviolable.
    Thus, any actions of such institutions and organizations rendering them not exclusively for
    religious, charitable or educational purposes shall be ground for the removal of their tax
    exemption.

    Although not expressly exempted under the 1987 Philippine Constitution unlike that of religious
    institutions, religious organizations are exempted from income tax under Section 30 of the Tax
    Code based on the Principle of Separation of Church and State enshrined under Section 6, Article
    II of the 1987 Philippine Constitution. This provision states that the separation of Church and
    State shall be inviolable. Since the power to tax is also the power to destroy, the State, under this
    provision, is asked to lessen its interference with religious affairs. Thus, our legislators included
    religious organizations among the few under the Tax Code which are exempt from income tax.

    This, however, is not absolute. Section 30 of the Tax Code is qualified by the condition that such
    religious organizations should be exclusively for religious and charitable purposes to be
    exempted from income tax. This is because the Constitution only protects the separation of the
    Church and State. The moment religious organizations are found to not be exclusively for
    religious or charitable purposes, such organizations may be removed from their tax exemption.
    In the case of religious organizations endorsing a candidate for election, such may be a valid
    ground for removal of the tax exemption of the religious organization because such case no
    longer falls under the Doctrine of Separation of Church and State. With elections being purely
    political in nature, any religious organization who endorse a candidate in the elections loses its
    status as religious organization exclusively for religious and charitable purposes. Thus, their tax-
    exempt status may be removed.

    As ruled by the Supreme Court in the case of Dumaguete Cathedral Credit Cooperative vs.
    Commissioner of Internal Revenue, G.R. No. 182722, "the power of taxation, while

    Page 1 of 2
    indispensable, is not absolute and may be subordinated to the demands of social justice."
    Although there is no exact jurisprudence yet in the Philippines to rule on the validity of a law
    removing the tax-exempt status of religious organizations that endorsed a candidate for election,
    it can be inferred from the aforesaid ruling that tax-emptions are not absolute and may be
    removed as long as the reason for the exemption no longer lies, which in this case, is the
    protection of the separation of the Church and State.

    While this issue is not yet determined here in the Philippines, in foreign jurisdictions like the
    United States of America, tax exemption is granted to religious organizations subject to the
    mandatory condition that it does not participate or intervene in any political campaign on behalf
    of or in opposition to any candidate for public office. In the same light, such law may be passed
    here in the Philippines as it does not violate our Constitution, but on the contrary, it executes its
    intention which is to minimize the interference of the State in the affairs of the Church, but not
    on the affairs of religious organizations which are not exclusively used for religious, charitable,
    or educational purposes. With elections being a political act, religious organizations that endorse
    candidates for election are no longer acting exclusively as hands of the Church, and therefore
    should no longer be protected by the Principle of Separation of Church and State.

    Page 2 of 2

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