Catholic Group Subject to Unemployment Tax, Supreme Court Told

Wisconsin denied Catholic Charities Bureau Inc.’s exemption from the state’s unemployment tax without violating the organization’s religious rights, the state said in a brief filed Wednesday in the US Supreme Court.

The tax exemption denial didn’t place a restriction on Catholic Charities’ religious practices, so the group doesn’t have a viable Free Exercise clause claim under the first amendment, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul’s office said for the state’s Labor & Industry Review Commission. Imposing a tax doesn’t infringe on the protected right of religious freedom, the state said.

“Petitioners have no religious objection to participating in the unemployment system; ...