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Pension board writes IRS on pastor's tax protest


The Rev. John Schwiebert and his wife, Patricia, relax after loading food for an Oregon relief ministry in 2003. Since 1977, the couple has withheld part or all of their federal income tax as an act of conscientious objection to war and U.S. military spending. A UMNS file photo by Tim Tanton.
 

 

A UMNS Report
By Linda Bloom*
May 8, 2007

 


Bishop Ben Chamness

The pension agency of The United Methodist Church has sent a letter of protest to the Internal Revenue Service over the U.S. tax agency's garnishment of a retired clergyman's pension.

However, the Rev. John Schwiebert says he is disappointed that the only action taken by the United Methodist Board of Pension and Health Benefits is the May 4 letter.

A volunteer pastor of Metanoia Peace Community United Methodist Church in Portland, Ore., Schwiebert is a long-time "war tax" resister. Since 1977, he and his wife, Patricia, have refused to support the U.S. military by withholding all or part of their federal income tax.

Since the beginning of 2007, approximately half of his monthly $3,000 pension payments have been deducted involuntarily because of an IRS levy claiming Schwiebert owes the government $7,500 for the 2002 and 2003 tax years. Five payments had been deducted by early May.

In January, the Schwieberts asked pension board directors to consider an alternative to complying with the levy. The directors voted unanimously in April to continue complying, but to send the IRS the board's own letter of protest.

The letter objects to the board’s role as "collection agent" while acknowledging "its obligation to obey the law." It was signed by Bishop Ben R. Chamness, chairman of the agency’s board of directors.

A check for the levy was enclosed with the letter, which stated: "We forward this amount under protest, however, feeling strongly that the levy forces us to be a collection agent for the IRS in a dispute between the federal government and a church member who is acting out of conscience and long-standing church teaching."

Noting that The United Methodist Church officially supports conscientious objection to all war, including the payment of taxes for military purposes, the letter pointed out that the money owed by the Schwieberts "are amounts that they quite openly refused to pay because of religiously based conscientious objection to the primary purposes for which the money was to be used, namely U.S. military activity, including the war in Iraq.

"Their recent action is consistent with numerous other conscientious acts of civil disobedience or non-cooperation they have undertaken throughout the last 30 years and for which they have both incurred penalties, including the seizure of personal savings and property," the letter continued.

"In some years, they have forfeited more than double the amount of the income tax owed because they 'redirected' the amounted owed to nonprofit agencies, only to have the IRS seize the same amount plus penalties."

Schwiebert said he appreciated the board's letter to the IRS but called it a minimal response to his appeal for support. "(The letter) was an action that carries no risk and will be fairly easy for the IRS to ignore," he told United Methodist News Service.

"We forward this amount under protest, … feeling strongly that the levy forces us to be a collection agent for the IRS in a dispute between the federal government and a church member who is acting out of conscience and long-standing church teaching."
– Bishop Ben R. Chamness to the IRS

"What we were hoping was that the board itself could engage in civil disobedience," he added, acknowledging such action might have to be authorized by a higher body, such as General Conference, the church’s top legislative body, which meets every four years.

The board's letter informed the IRS that the reduction in Schwiebert’s monthly pension benefit created a hardship for the Schwieberts and the household where they live with a small group of people "in an intentional Christian servant community affiliated with their local United Methodist Church."

Because the denomination’s Social Principles support conscientious objection, the levy "has, in essence, coerced the General Board into violating one of the church’s deeply held principles of faith," the letter declared. "It has put the General Board in a position of punishing Rev. Schwiebert’s conscience, as opposed to supporting it, as the church so clearly teaches."

The letter urged the IRS "to investigate the enactment of new federal laws, such as H.R. 2631, proposed in 2005, that provide for alternative tax payments for conscientious objectors to war in the same way that selective service laws provide for alternative service for conscientious objectors to military service." 

Schwiebert believes there should be a way for the church "to say no to the government of any country in which it has a presence" when that government’s actions, such as engaging in war, are inconsistent with the teachings of Jesus Christ.

He does not plan legal actions but rather to work to raise the consciousness of the church, possibly by writing proposed legislation for the 2008 General Conference to allow the pension board to refuse to cooperate with the IRS.

 

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.

News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

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