OK, Chesedname, let’s start again from the top.
Education is controlled at the state level. It is not controlled at the federal level.
Despite your assertion to the contrary, there IS an amendment in the New York State Constitution. You can even see it for yourself at the following site: http://www.dos.state.ny.us/info/constitution.htm The part you’re looking for is Article XI, section 3.
It says that the state cannot provide funding (except for a few specified services) for a school that teaches religion. It does NOT say that the state cannot fund religious education. What it says is that if a school teaches religion, then NO PART of the school can be funded by the state — not the religious studies, not the secular studies, not the gym, not the arts and crafts — nothing. Once the school teaches religious studies, then the state cannot fund it — period. You’re assertion that they can pay for secular studies runs directly counter to what the amendment actually says. You’re assertion that “it’s not actually against the constitution, they use that as an excuse” is patently false.
The Blaine Amendment (as it is often called) is not likely to be repealed any time soon. Any attempt to repeal it would require ratification by the voters — which likely wouldn’t happen until the next Election Day. So, even if every frum parent in New York enrolled their kids in public school on the first day of school in September (not gonna happen) and you got the Senate and the Assembly to pass the amendment in time to get on the ballot (double not gonna happen) AND all those frum people left their kids in public school until Election Day (sooooooooooo not gonna happen) AND the rest of the electorate in the state doesn’t find out that it’s all a ruse and that all those kids are going back to Yeshiva the day after the amendment passes (also not gonna happen) then you might get state funding for the yeshivos. But, as you can see, this isn’t going to happen anytime soon.
Now that we got the state issues out of the way, let’s go onto the Federal issues.
The IRS is a federal agency, not a state agency. The federal government does not directly fund education and has little say in how the states spend their education money. The IRS certainly does not fund education.
You made the assertion that, due to IRS Revenue Ruling 93-73, Scientologists don’t pay taxes on religious education for their children. You did not provide a link, but merely a few typed paragraphs.
In any event, I took the liberty of actually looking up IRS Revenue Ruling 93-73. I will quote it for you now, in full:
Revenue Ruling 78-189, 1978-1, C.B 68, is obsoleted.
That’s it.
So, I took the liberty of looking up IRS Revenue Ruling 78-189. That one is a bit longer. However, here’s the summary at the start of the ruling:
A “fixed donation” paid to the Church of Scientology for general education courses, religious education courses and “auditing” and processing courses that does not exceed the fair market value of these courses is not a charitable contribution within the meaning of section 170 of the Code.
The long and short of it is that the ruling is that the costs of auditing and training in Scientology were not considered charitable deductions under Section 170 of the IRS Code. “Auditing” is a religious service provided in Scientology. In 1978 the IRS ruled that this is not a legitimate charity and therefore the costs were not deductible. In 1993, they changed their mind. It does not, however, state that Scientologists can now deduct religious education from their federal taxes.
Now, let me provide you with some background on the IRS ruling in 1993.
The Church of Scientology was recognized as a church by the IRS when it was formed. The IRS revoked the Church’s tax-exempt status in the 1960s.
By 1993, the IRS finally agreed to recognize Scientology as a church and make them tax-exempt — just like every other church. When they finally settled the deal in 1993, the Church paid the IRS about $12 million to settle back claims. The IRS basically agreed to call off everything else if the Church dropped its remaining lawsuits against the IRS.
So, in other words, it’s not like the IRS suddenly went up to the Church and said “here, take some free tax credits.” The Church had been fighting for over 20 years to be recognized… well, as a church. The IRS eventually relented. There’s certainly nothing in IRS Revenue Ruling 93-73 (which I quoted above in it’s entirety) that states that Scientologists can deduct their tuition payments.
If you have some other info to present, please do so.
The Wolf