Word: amish
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...Amish Defiance...
Amishman Ed Lee, who will not pay Social Security taxes [April 19], should be free to practice his long-established religion. President Reagan has appealed to Americans to return to the concept of self-help instead of relying on Government aid. The Amish have done just that by caring for their own for generations. Now the IRS wants to take Lee's property when all he asks for is to live and let live...
...other friend, Robert Gardner, 43, a high school teacher in New Castle, is urging another tactic. Aided by hundreds of "English" volunteers, he has collected upwards of 10,000 signatures and hopes to get 10,000 more on petitions urging Congress to enact a law exempting all Amish from paying for Social Security. He has even written to President Reagan asking for his support. "The Amish," says Gardner, "are not a fly-by-night religion, just formed to avoid taxes. Legislation already exists which exempts an Amish individual from paying Social Security taxes when he is self-employed. The precedent...
...Amish customs, Gardner argues, constitute a "built-in form of Social Security." Forcing the Amish to pay Social Security cuts at the heart of their religion, he maintains. And it will affect others besides Ed Lee. According to Gardner, at least 30 additional Amish employers in the area could find themselves in the same predicament if the IRS decided to press them...
...predicament is something that Lee ponders as he sits by the coal stove in the kitchen of his neat, sturdy farmhouse. His feet are covered with thick blue socks; the Amish remove their shoes before entering the home. His blue eyes are gentle behind sensible, old-fashioned glasses, his beard is appropriately patriarchal, his voice surprisingly soft. "I'm a man who wakes every morning and thanks God for what is," Lee says. "I don't worry. I work. I believe that the Government of the U.S. is fair and just. It is not the Amish habit...