-5- observes that the self-employment tax was imposed on petitioners’ income derived from Mr. Gage’s Schedule C business. We agree with respondent that petitioners are liable for self-employment tax on their self-employment income. Respondent’s denial of a self-employment tax exemption to petitioners, assuming their claimed religious objections to the Social Security system are sincere, was not in violation of their free exercise rights. In Droz v. Commissioner, 48 F.3d 1120 (9th Cir. 1995), the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the court to which this case is appealable, held that the denial of exemption from self-employment tax to a taxpayer who had religious objections to the Social Security system did not violate the taxpayer’s free exercise rights. Our jurisprudence contains a line of cases which hold similarly. Randolph v. Commissioner, 74 T.C. 284 (1980); Henson v. Commissioner, 66 T.C. 835 (1976); Palmer v. Commissioner, 52 T.C. 310 (1969); May v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1996-135; Grieve v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1986-453. Because we find nothing in the instant case to distinguish it from Droz and our line of cases, we hold that the imposition upon petitioners of self-employment tax as determined by respondent is not in violation of their First Amendment rights.Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Next
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