A Grave Problem – NJ Ban on Religious Headstone Sales Could Violate Constitution

Catholic News Agency ^ | 3/26/15 | Kevin J. Jones

[marshmallow]

Trenton, N.J., Mar 26, 2015 / 04:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A New Jersey law crafted to ban the Archdiocese of Newark from selling cemetery headstones might not pass muster under judicial review, according to a constitutional law expert.

Matthew Franck said the law “may well be violating the freedom of religion” guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution because it “singles out religious organizations for disfavored treatment.”

Franck directs the Simon Center on Religion and the Constitution at the Princeton, N.J.-based Witherspoon Institute. He characterized the law as “a direct assault on the freedom of churches to offer services to the bereaved in their own congregations.”

In a March 16 article at the news site NJ.com, Mark Mueller wrote that “the measure, while applied broadly to all religious institutions, is designed to counter a move by the Archdiocese of Newark in 2013 to enter the headstone business at its Catholic cemeteries.”

The law bars any “religious corporation, association, organization or society” that owns, controls or manages a cemetery from selling memorials, vaults, or mausoleums. Under the law, such religious groups also may not own or manage funeral homes or mortuaries.

The bill was signed into law March 23 by New Jersey governor Chris Christie.

Until 2013, private companies had exclusively sold headstones and family crypts in the state. Their trade association, the Monument Builders of New Jersey, said the tax-exempt Newark archdiocese had an unfair competitive advantage that could drive them out of business. The trade association engaged in a lobbying campaign against the Newark archdiocese's move into their market.

[pepsi_junkie]

As I understand it (this story has been in the news a lot over the past year), the Church has to pay sales tax on items they actually sell.

Yes, technically the church is simply collecting the tax, the buyer is paying it. However the church does not pay property tax, income tax, or any other tax really. I think from my distant past years in retail (high school) the church doesn't pay sales tax on their purchases of supplies either. A business owner must pay all of these. And in NJ where the story is taking place, that extra burden is not small.

Basically the market is distorted when some participants have a large tax burden but competitors do not.

[kearnyirish2]

Yes, those are good points.