CAPSULE COMMENTARY: “IRS Seizes Church”

“The Internal Revenue Service has planned its annual pre-April 15 advertising campaign. A church in Indianapolis is refusing to pay federal withholding taxes totaling $5.9 million on religious grounds — that the monies paid to church employees were not income but rather “love gifts.” Well, apparently the IRS doesn’t believe in love because it intends to seize the church chapel, parsonage, and school, which are appraised at $8 million, in order to cover the back taxes. And guess what date they’ve set for the seizure: April 10. Just consider it a gentle, little, terroristic reminder to the rest of us to “voluntarily” pay our taxes on April 15. We’ll see how “voluntary” the income tax is when IRS agents, U.S. Marshalls, and deputy sheriffs storm the church facilities and take possession of it. So far there’s no word on whether the Army is renting tanks and gas for the operation.”