(Nov. 20, 2020) The Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR), based in Torino, Italy, and Human Rights Without Frontiers, headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, co-hosted a virtual event titled “Tax Justice and Religious Freedom: The Tai Ji Men Case and Beyond.” It was held on November 19, 2020, as a side event of the 3rd Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom or Belief, organized by the U.S. Department of State in cooperation with the Foreign Ministries of Poland and other countries. The event was moderated by Rosita Šorytė, from the European Federation for Freedom of Belief. Five scholars and experts on human rights, as well as a representative of Tai Ji Men, shared their insights on the Tai Ji Men case and related human rights violations, which lasted for 24 years and are still not solved.
To allow the audience to better understand the case, a video titled “How Top Taiwanese Officials Publicly View Tai Ji Men” and a world premiere of the movie directed by Massimo Introvigne titled “A Question of Justice: The Tai Ji Men Tax Case in Taiwan” were presented. (Here is the link to the event video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT6ns65FMA4)
In 1996, the Taiwan government launched a crackdown on religious and spiritual movements, and Tai Ji Men was caught in the crossfire. A biased prosecutor led an army of investigators and police to raid Tai Ji Men facilities, and arrested the leader of Tai Ji Men, Dr. Hong. The prosecutor brought charges of fraud and tax evasion against Tai Ji Men. Simply based on the indictment, the tax bureau issued tax bills for 1991–1996. In 2007, Taiwan’s Supreme Court found Tai Ji Men not guilty of tax evasion or any other charges. Monetary compensation for the unjust detention was given to the defendants. Finally, after Taiwan’s Supreme Administrative Court had confirmed once again that Tai Ji Men was not guilty of tax evasion, in 2019 the tax bureau corrected to zero the taxes related to the monetary gifts given to Dr. Hong for five of the six years, but refused to correct the amount for 1992, based on a technicality. In August 2020, the government confiscated the land of Dr. Hong based on the tax bill for 1992.
Marco Respinti, an Italian professional journalist and director-in-charge of “Bitter Winter” magazine, stated, “Taxes are the most important and most favorite weapon of too many governments or parts of government within a democratic society, to deny the freedom of belief of minorities and sometimes even of majorities. The Tai Ji Men case is the best illustration of how this may happen. There are a lot of proofs in favor of Tai Ji Men, yet, sometimes the political power uses taxes to fight against the most fundamental human rights. Taxes can be used to do many good things, but when it comes to overburden people and groups and to target spiritual minorities, they amount to persecution as such.”
Respinti also said that “I’m totally in favor of the conclusion of the movie. Today, we are all Tai Ji Men, especially in Western countries, especially in democratic society, where we do not face harsh, open persecution like in totalitarian regimes, yet a state or some organized political forces or some parties, some branches of a national government may use their power intended for the good to perform evil. I think that we should all stand by Tai Ji Men, because they are fighting a battle for the most important, most essential human right, religious freedom. It is a battle for freedom, for liberty, for justice, a battle for the equal treatment of all before the law.”
Kenneth Jacobsen, professor of law at Temple University in Philadelphia and advisor to former President Bill Clinton, shared his insights on the case: “Every branch of the government of Taiwan has failed in basic due process, has failed to enforce their own findings, their own conclusions. How is it that a tax authority can destroy a person and can try to destroy an organization, it is absolutely incomprehensible to me. It is the most gross deprivation of due process, the most gross violation of fairness, the most gross intrusion on religious liberty, and I would suggest it goes beyond that because if the tax authority can do this to an organization like Tai Ji Men, it could do it to anyone.”
“This is in my experience the most extraordinary situation of a violation of human rights in the tax and religious freedom area that I have ever seen. U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Marshall said, the power to tax is the power to destroy.” “I commend Tai Ji Men for not giving in. They could have paid the tax and gone on, but sometimes principle matters, in fact often principle matters, and it is a matter of principle to not give in to this abuse by the tax authorities. I commend them for that.”
Jacobsen also urged the Taiwan government to redress the injustice against Tai Ji Men by saying, “Allowing and perpetuating an injustice is as bad as inflicting that injustice in the first place. It is never too late to do the right thing, and the government of Taiwan should do the right thing and eliminate the tax for 1992, which is just absurd, considering what has happened for 1991 and the other years, and restore the property that was unlawfully seized.”
Willy Fautré, the director of the Brussels-based NGO Human Rights Without Frontiers, shared some more details about the case, including the detention conditions of Dr. Hong, the leader of Tai Ji Men, and the injustice inflicted upon Tai Ji Men dizi and their families. The prosecutor deliberately arranged for Dr. Hong to be detained in damp cold cells with violent criminals, serious drug addicts, and recidivist criminals, which was intended to provoke fear and intimidation and to have some of these criminals testify against Dr. Hong. These testimonies often consisted of slander against Tai Ji Men and its leader, said Fautré.
“One of his disciples sent him a new quilt but instead he was given an old dirty one that the prison authorities tampered with to make Dr. Hong’s body itch. It was so extreme that he would scratch to the point of breaking skin and could hardly fall asleep.” Eventually, his feet were so swollen and painful that he could hardly walk. There were concerns his feet would need to be amputated due to the damage done. He was detained in such conditions for 117 days. “Remember that he was finally declared innocent!” added Fautré.
Fautré also pointed out that because of the negative public attention circulating the case, Tai Ji Men dizi were mocked and ridiculed by their teachers, classmates, and neighbors, and some of them were even forced to resign from their jobs.
Damon Tsai, a Tai Ji Men dizi and product director at an American semiconductor company, gave a first-hand account of the injustice experienced by thousands of Tai Ji Men dizi. He recalled the day after the prosecutor illegally searched Tai Ji Men and released false information to the media. “I was having lunch with my classmates. One of my fellow classmates came to me and asked, ‘Did you and your parents defraud people in Tai Ji Men?’” “Ever since then, I was afraid of having meals with my friends. I even tried to avoid taking part in school activities.”
Tsai also reported that, despite these injustices against Tai Ji Men, Dr. Hong still led his dizi to do what is right for Taiwan and the rest of the world. “Tai Ji Men has visited 101 nations to promote conscience, love and peace, and Dr. Hong was instrumental in the United Nations’ adoption of the International Day of Conscience in 2019. Tai Ji Men has also strived to improve people’s health physically, mentally, and spiritually,” Tsai said. “Shortly after the 921 earthquake hit Taiwan in 1999, Dr. Hong brought together nearly 40,000 leaders and followers of various religions to pray for Taiwan and the rest of the world. During the SARS epidemic in 2003 and the COVID-19 pandemic as well, Tai Ji Men has actively shared with the world health protection tips and a manual about epidemic prevention that it made,” added Tsai.
Alessandro Amicarelli, a London-based attorney and the president of the European Federation for Freedom of Belief, said, “Indeed the tax case involving Tai Ji Men has lasted for far too long. Happily, most of the claims have been erased in court, except for the tax claim for the year 1992, which is still maintained by the tax office and which seriously risks to damageTai Ji Men after it costed them tens of millions of Taiwanese dollars in trials. The ongoing case involving Tai Ji Men is unacceptable, to say the least, generally speaking, and also very difficult to understand from a legal, purely legal point of view.”
“Based on the legal principle of estoppel, it should not be argued or asserted that Tai Ji Men have to pay taxes for this specific year 1992,” said Amicarelli, adding, “We come to the same conclusion also if we take into account another different principle, the one of legitimate expectation or legal certainty, according to which those who are in good faith on the basis of the law as it is or it seems to be should not be frustrated in their expectations.”
“I personally hope and wish that this case involving Tai Ji Men can be concluded in the best possible way, honoring on one side Tai Ji Men and their reputation in the country and internationally and on the other side Taiwan’s democratic achievements and commitments for the safeguard of human rights and fundamental freedoms. So our expectation, and I believe everyone’s expectation in the audience and in the panel, is that Taiwan will honor these principles and by complying with them will finally, fully meet all the legal expectations of Tai Ji Men and its membership in this matter,” said Amicarelli.
Dr. Massimo Introvigne, an Italian sociologist and the founder and managing director of the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR), said, “In law school, I learned that there are crimes against properties and crimes against life. Crimes against property seem to be less serious than crimes against life. Then why are we devoting the time of so many people to a question of money, in a world where many are killed and tortured for their faith? The answer is, because it is not a question of money. If it were a question of money, it would have been settled 10 years ago. It would have been much less expensive and less time consuming for Tai Ji Men to just pay for the year 1992. They spent time and money, and if you look at the number of people who took to the street, it is obvious that it is not about the money they are asked to pay for the 1992 tax bill. It is about conscience.”
Dr. Introvigne further explained that “Tai Ji Men is proud of their role in the UN’s institution of International Day of Conscience, so they are people of conscience. They believe conscience is especially important. They do not want to admit what is not true. Paying the taxes for 1992 would mean admitting that they had evaded these taxes before, which would be a lie, and it will run against the core of the Tai Ji Men experience of law-abiding citizens. So, it is not about the money but about putting principle before money.”
He pointed out the significance of the Tai Ji Men case for the international community: “There is a connection between tax justice and freedom of religion. We are seeing disturbing signs in more than one country, governments or bureaucrats or politicians are proposing to get rid of annoying groups or groups for whatever reasons they do not like, through tax tools. At another event yesterday, there was a discussion of a law now proposed in France to institute more control on gifts and donations to religious groups, how they are collected, and how they are used. This may seem reasonable in general, but can be easily used to discriminate against religious groups, as the European Court of Human Rights concluded in three cases where it ruled against France.”
“It is a very disturbing international trend to use tax laws to discriminate against groups which are unpopular, or which cross the way of some politicians or bureaucrats. This is one of the reasons why we plan to continue to study the Tai Ji Men case and to ask justice for Tai Ji Men, because this case may become a bad or perhaps, if finally solved, a good important international precedent,” added Dr. Introvigne.
All the panelists mentioned that Tai Ji Men has been insisting on upholding justice and human rights, not just for themselves but for all others who face a similar plight. They expressed hope that more people of conscience around the world will voice their support for this worthy cause, to push the government of Taiwan to end this case of gross human rights abuse. With conscience and concerted efforts of kind-hearted people, justice and truth will prevail, they concluded.
Source: CESNUR, Torino, Italy www.cesnur.org