The Church of the New Testament, Its Members and Friends, Plaintiffs v. United States

Pastor Gordon L. Ginn, on behalf of the plaintiffs — the Church of the New Testament (“Church”), its “members and friends” — appeals the district court’s dismissal of this action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. We affirm.

FACTS

The Church, its pastor (Ginn), and its other “members and friends” are aggrieved by the fact that: (1) the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) has failed to include the Church in its list of tax-exempt organizations; and (2) this failure has damaged their efforts to solicit contributions. They sought a judgment declaring the Church’s tax-exempt status. The district court granted the Government’s motion to dismiss, finding that the Declaratory Judgment Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2201 , specifically prohibits actions concerning federal taxes. Plaintiffs filed a timely notice of- appeal from the dismissal.

DISCUSSION

Two issues are presented for our determination:

(1) Whether the district court erred in holding that it lacked jurisdiction to entertain this action under 28 U.S.C. § 2201 ; and

(2) Whether the district court erred in dismissing the action as to the Church where the Church was not properly represented below.

We answer both questions in the…