Wisconsin Supreme Court Rules Catholic Charities May Not Claim Religious Tax Exemption

The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled on March 14 that a major Catholic Charities organization and four nonprofits affiliated with the agency must pay into the state unemployment insurance system. In a 4–3 decision, the liberal majority of the court rejected arguments made by Catholic Charities Bureau Inc. for the Superior Diocese of the Catholic Church that they should be exempt from the state’s Unemployment Compensation Act. That charity—which provides job placement, job coaching, and various services to assist individuals with disabilities in getting employment in the community—filed the lawsuit last year after the state said it did not qualify to be considered an organization “operated primarily for religious purposes.”...