Introduction
Religious organizations hold rituals, ceremonies, prayer meetings, and other cultural and educational activities. According to the legislation of most countries, they have the right to establish their organizations and engage in entrepreneurial activities. However, this raises a number of justifiable taxation issues related to the actions of religious organizations. The purpose of this essay is to determine the legislative path in the U.S., which is the idea of returning the obligation to pay tax to religious organizations.
Main body
Ima Atheist plans to promote a law on the return of financial responsibility to churches to pay taxes on donations. It is necessary to trace the movement of the idea through the bill directly to the President. This scheme involves several legislative organizations, including Congress. Congress and its chambers exercise their powers by passing laws, resolutions, and some other documents (Smith & Floyd, p. 8). The most important of these, adopted with the participation of both chambers, are, of course, laws.
The right of legislative initiative, based on the concept of a strict separation of powers, is formally granted only to members of the U.S. Congress. However, as is customary, the law-making activities of Congress are primarily determined by the content of the annual and other messages of the President of the United States. The permanent rules of the chambers allow for the submission of both the developed draft and only the proposed idea drawn up by the relevant body. The latter is introduced in the form of a petition aiming to consider the advisability of adopting a law (USA gov 1). If the chamber passes a favorable resolution on the request, the development of the bill is assigned to a standing committee, the profile of which corresponds to the content of the law. Immediately after the introduction of the bill for consideration begins a significant stage of the plenary action within the committee (USA gov 1). There are three debates in each chamber, usually held on three different days. Final rules set time limits for debates and amendments. Open – allows you to accept changes proposed during the discussion of the document (Smith & Floyd 8). In the U.S. Congress, the passage of the bill in the House of Representatives is subject to these rules, which are established by the House Procedural Committee.
After the reading is completed, the bill is submitted to the Standing Committee. The latter can finalize it only in editorial terms. Only editorial amendments are allowed during the third reading. The chamber may return to the second reading, including making amendments in substance only after a unanimous decision. The third reading ends with a vote on the adoption of the bill.
The bill should be adopted in an identical version by both chambers. Therefore, a bill approved by one chamber is sent to the other. If the second chamber passes it, then after signing by the presidents of the chambers (the first one to be approved by the speaker), the bill is handed over to the President. If a bill is rejected by one of the chambers, the text of the law, together with the proposed amendments, is returned to the chamber that initially adopted it.
Applications for dismissal, which may result in the bill being repealed, are linked to the U.S. House of Representatives. It should be noted that such a system may be corrupt because the chairman of the committee may not issue a bill for personal reasons. Interestingly, this bill cannot be submitted through a filibuster. It is a U.S. Congress, and the length of discussion in the House of Representatives is limited, so the Filibuster is not possible there (Smith & Floyd, p. 19). However, in the Senate, the initiator of the discussion could theoretically continue it indefinitely.
Once the President has received an identical bill, he must sign it within ten days. Once approved by the President, the act becomes legally binding, unless otherwise stated by the President himself (USA gov 1). However, within this period, the President may reject the law using the right of veto. In this case, the law with the President’s objections is sent to the chamber in which it was introduced (USA gov 1). As a general rule, the President can only reject the entire law: the U.S. Constitution does not provide for a selective veto.
Conclusion
However, the U.S. Constitution also provides for the suspensive nature of the President’s veto: Congress can override it by the reapproval of the bill by the chambers, and first by the one in which it was introduced. The proposal should be adopted by roll-call vote in the previous version, that is, without taking into account the comments of the President, 2/3 of the votes of the members of each chamber present at the meeting and voting. In this case, the bill becomes law immediately after approval by the committees; it comes into force without the President’s signature. Moreover, the same consequence occurs if the President does not sign the bill and return it to Congress within ten days of signing the acts of the Parliament. However, the rule does not apply to those cases where the President received the law less than ten days before the end of the session. In this situation, the deadline will not expire by the end of the course. Therefore, the presidential veto becomes, in fact, absolute. This type of presidential veto is called a pocket veto in the USA.
References
- Smith, George, and Floyd M. Riddick. Congress in Action (How a Bill Becomes a Law). Wildside Press LLC, 2008.
- USA gov. How Laws Are Made and How to Research Them. 2019.