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its members should tithe ten percent of their income to the
church”, we are unpersuaded that tithing was a requirement of
Mr. Pixley’s employment.
We hold that the Appeals officer did not abuse his
discretion in disallowing petitioners’ claimed tithing expenses.
V. Petitioners’ First Amendment Challenge
The First Amendment of the United States Constitution
provides that “Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof”.
Petitioners contend that respondent’s disallowance of Mr.
Pixley’s tithing expenses for purposes of evaluating their offer
in compromise violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First
Amendment. The gist of petitioners’ argument, as we understand
it, is that by declining to make allowance for tithing expenses
in evaluating petitioners’ ability to pay their taxes, respondent
is effectively reducing the funds that petitioners have available
to support their religion and diverting those funds to the U.S.
Treasury.
It may well be true that paying their taxes will leave
petitioners less funds to support their religion. But this is a
burden, common to all taxpayers, on their pocketbooks, rather
than a recognizable burden on the free exercise of their
religious beliefs. Constitutional protection of fundamental
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