Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, a Democrat, quarreled that only two options were available: “expanding the statutory exemption to groups like Catholic Charities” or “eliminating it altogether.”
By Catholics for Catholics
After it failed blocking a Catholic Charity from claiming a tax break at the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year, the State of Wisconsin is trying to do away with a tax exemption for religious organizations.
In June, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the state violated the First Amendment when it denied a tax exemption to the Diocese of Superior’s Catholic Charities Bureau, according to The Christian Post. The state had contended that the group’s charitable undertakings were not “primarily” religious and thus could not qualify for the tax break.
Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul filed a remedial brief on Monday before the state supreme court in connection to the case brought by the Catholic Charities Bureau, writing that the U.S. Supreme Court “did not prescribe a particular remedy” when siding with the charity earlier in June over its bid for an exemption from the state’s unemployment insurance program.
Kaul, a Democrat, quarreled that only two options were available: “expanding the statutory exemption to groups like Catholic Charities” or “eliminating it altogether.”
🚨JUST ANNOUNCED: Good Thursday. The Supreme Court SCOTUS just ruled unanimously that the Wisconsin Supreme Court violated the First Amendment when it tried to force Catholic Charities, and no other religious org in the state, to pay unemployment taxes. 9-0! #thursdayvibes pic.twitter.com/k4oSfU5FcE
— AJ Huber (@Huberton) June 5, 2025
“And over the past 50 years, the Legislature has consistently expanded the universe of nonprofit employers that must participate in the unemployment system. Enlarging this exemption would reverse that trend,” he stated.
“By striking the exemption, this Court can avoid collateral damage to Wisconsin workers while still curing the discrimination the U.S. Supreme Court identified. It should so hold, thereby bringing this long-running case to a close.”
The Supreme Court ruled earlier this year in Catholic Charities Bureau, Inc. v. Wisconsin Labor Review Commission et al. that the Catholic charity group can be excused from an unemployment insurance program even though the state deemed its services nonreligious.
The decision vacated an earlier ruling by the Wisconsin Supreme Court and sent the case back to the lower court level for further deliberation.
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is helping to represent Catholic Charities Bureau, filed a supplemental brief denouncing the request to remove the tax exemption fully, arguing that “Wisconsin long ago forfeited any claim to request that Catholic Charities’ remedy be anything other than receiving the exemption.”
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