| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"" |
| Date: |
27 Dec 2004 08:00:09 AM |
| Object: |
IRS Says 20 Churches Under Electioneering Investigation |
CHURCH & STATE DECEMBER 2004 page 3 (243)
AU BULLETIN
http://www.au.org/site/PageServer?pagename=cs_2004_12
[EXCERPTS]
IRS Says 20 Churches Under Electioneering Investigation
In late October, the Internal Revenue Service announced that it was
investigating 20 churches for potential violations of federal tax law that
bars non-profits from partisan politics.
The announcement came on the heels of a claim by the Rev. Patrick Mahoney,
a Religious Right activist, that the IRS had issued a formal ruling that
houses of worship could not pray for President George W. Bush's
re-election, the Religion News Service (RNS) reported.
An IRS spokeswoman told the RNS that the tax agency had issued no such
ruling or made any changes to its guidelines prohibiting houses of worship
and other non-profits from engaging in partisan politics. In a written
statement, the agency revealed that it is investigating more than 60
situations where non-profit groups - about a third of them houses of
worship - may have run afoul of the tax code's no-politicking rule.
The statement from IRS Commissioner Mark Everson also noted that its
investigations are not politically motivated. "Career civil servants, not
political appointees, make these decisions in a fair, impartial manner,"
Everson said in the Oct. 29 statement. "Any suggestion that the IRS has
tilted its audit activities for political purposes is repugnant and
groundless." Everson declined, citing a federal privacy law, to give any
more detail about the investigations.
Earlier in the year, the IRS issued a reminder to non-profits highlighting
the tax code regulation barring non-profits, including churches, from using
their resources to help elect candidates.
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| User: "Denis Loubet" |
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| Title: Re: IRS Says 20 Churches Under Electioneering Investigation |
27 Dec 2004 11:58:46 AM |
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<buckeye0ELO@nospam.net> wrote in message
news:s850t0dkske09a2tg8p5p21e68berr1850@4ax.com...
CHURCH & STATE DECEMBER 2004 page 3 (243)
AU BULLETIN
http://www.au.org/site/PageServer?pagename=cs_2004_12
[EXCERPTS]
IRS Says 20 Churches Under Electioneering Investigation
Yeah baby! :-)
--
Denis Loubet
dloubet@io.com
http://www.io.com/~dloubet
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| User: "Tock" |
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| Title: Re: IRS Says 20 Churches Under Electioneering Investigation |
27 Dec 2004 02:22:34 PM |
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<buckeye0ELO@nospam.net> wrote in message
news:s850t0dkske09a2tg8p5p21e68berr1850@4ax.com...
CHURCH & STATE DECEMBER 2004 page 3 (243)
AU BULLETIN
http://www.au.org/site/PageServer?pagename=cs_2004_12
[EXCERPTS]
IRS Says 20 Churches Under Electioneering Investigation
In late October, the Internal Revenue Service announced that it was
investigating 20 churches for potential violations of federal tax law that
bars non-profits from partisan politics.
I think the point should be made, though, that churches are free to politic
all they want
as soon as they agree to pay taxes on their income and property like
everyone else does.
But if they declare themselves to be charitable organizations that do not
engage in politics to get that tax exemption, then they gotta abide by the
rules they agreed to.
So ya, they're free to campaign all they want. They just can't do it with
$$$ that would have otherwise gone to the taxman.
-Tock
But if they want to take advantage of the tax exemption granted by federal,
state, and local governments, they
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| User: "Gregory Gadow" |
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| Title: Re: IRS Says 20 Churches Under Electioneering Investigation |
27 Dec 2004 02:44:47 PM |
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Tock wrote:
<buckeye0ELO@nospam.net> wrote in message
news:s850t0dkske09a2tg8p5p21e68berr1850@4ax.com...
CHURCH & STATE DECEMBER 2004 page 3 (243)
AU BULLETIN
http://www.au.org/site/PageServer?pagename=cs_2004_12
[EXCERPTS]
IRS Says 20 Churches Under Electioneering Investigation
In late October, the Internal Revenue Service announced that it was
investigating 20 churches for potential violations of federal tax law that
bars non-profits from partisan politics.
I think the point should be made, though, that churches are free to politic
all they want
as soon as they agree to pay taxes on their income and property like
everyone else does.
But if they declare themselves to be charitable organizations that do not
engage in politics to get that tax exemption, then they gotta abide by the
rules they agreed to.
So ya, they're free to campaign all they want. They just can't do it with
$$$ that would have otherwise gone to the taxman.
Which, in their minds, is a violation of their right to free speech and proof
that Christians are being persecuted.
--
Gregory Gadow
techbear@serv.net
http://www.serv.net/~techbear
"The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in
the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary,
self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition
of tyranny." - James Madison, _The Federalist_, #47
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