By Patrick B. Craine
FREDERICTON, New Brunswick, August 20, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Canadian pro-life man convicted in 2007 for refusing to file tax returns over taxpayer funded abortion has lost his second appeal, in a decision released Thursday from the New Brunswick Court of Appeal.
Mr. David Little, 65, formerly of Fredericton, now living in Alberton, P.E.I., is a Roman Catholic and pro-life activist who has committed to not filing his taxes because tax money is used in Canada to fund abortions. While convicted for not filing from 2000-2002, Little has, in fact, not filed since 1999.
In 2003, Little was ordered by Revenue Canada to file the missing tax returns. He was charged in 2005 and then convicted by the New Brunswick Provincial Court in 2007.
Little contends that his Charter right to freedom of conscience and religion is violated by the Income Tax Act, which requires him to fund, through his taxes, a practice that he considers morally and religiously reprehensible. The trial judge found that Little had not adequately established a religious requirement to not file taxes, and stated that this obligation did not impede his religious rights.
After appealing the trial judge's decision to the Court of Queen's Bench, Little's conviction was upheld in 2008. Representing himself, Little presented his appeal of that decision to the Court of Appeal in April.
The Court, with reasons submitted by Justice Robertson, dismissed Little's appeal on the basis that filing taxes is not prohibited by any religion, and insists that taxpayer-funded abortion does not indicate support for abortion from individual taxpayers, nor does it constitute coercion from the government to fund abortions.
“This appeal asks whether those who oppose abortion on grounds of 'religion', or as a matter of 'conscience', are relieved of the legal obligation to file annual tax returns and, by necessary implication, the obligation to pay taxes, because of this Charter right,” the judge writes. “The answer has to be no.”
“The non-filing of annual returns, like the non-payment of taxes, does not qualify as a religious practice nor has it become the tenet of any religious faith,” he says. In particular, later on, the judge notes the practice of Little's own religious community, the Catholic Church, in issuing yearly tax receipts. “The refusals are simply acts of civil disobedience intended to bring about change in government policy, the law, or both.”
The fact that one disagrees with government policy does not mean one can refuse to pay taxes, the judge says, for “otherwise, everyone who disagrees with government policies and the expenditure of public monies in furtherance of those policies would be entitled to abandon their obligation to bear their proportionate share of the national debt while continuing to receive no-cost public benefits such as Medicare.”
According to the Daily Gleaner, Little intends to pursue his case to the Supreme Court of Canada, though he said he would not make his final decision until fully reviewing the Court of Appeal's decision.