Clergy housing allowance is constitutional, appeals court rules
Leaders of the Freedom From Religion Foundation argue that the allowance discriminates in favor of ministers.
A federal appeals court has ruled that the clergy housing allowance authorized by the Internal Revenue Service is constitutional.
The Freedom from Religion Foundation had argued successfully in a Wisconsin district court that the long-standing exemption for religious housing in the IRS tax code violated the First Amendment’s establishment clause. But a three-judge panel of the Seventh US Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the lower court decision on March 15.
The FFRF argued that the allowance gives ministers and churches a financial benefit that is not available to secular nonprofit groups. But the court determined in a unanimous ruling that it did not overly entangle church and state.
