Suit Filed against IRS for failing to enforce Church Electioneering ban
11-14-2012, 02:43 PM
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The Freedom From Religion Foundation is taking the Internal Revenue Service to court over its failure to enforce electioneering restrictions against churches and religious organizations, calling it a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment and of FFRF?s equal protection rights. FFRF filed the lawsuit today in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin. (View the lawsuit here.)
A widely circulated Bloomberg news article quoted Russell Renwicks, with the IRS? Tax-Exempt and Government Entities division, saying the IRS has suspended tax audits of churches. Other sources claim the IRS hasn?t been auditing churches since 2009. (See AP Religion Writer Rachel Zoll?s story, ?IRS Not Enforcing Rules on Churches and Politics.?) Although an IRS spokesman claimed Renwicks ?misspoke,? there appears to be no evidence of IRS inquiries or action in the past three years.
As many as 1,500 clergy reportedly violated the electioneering restrictions on Sunday, Oct. 7, 2012, notes FFRF?s legal complaint. The complaint also references ?blatantly political? full-page ads running in the three Sundays leading up to the presidential elections by the Billy Graham Evangelical Association.
FFRF, a state/church watchdog based in Madison, Wis., is asking the the federal court to enjoin IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman from continuing ?a policy of non-enforcement of the electioneering restrictions against churches and religious organizations.?
Additionally, FFRF seeks to order Shulman ?to authorize a high-ranking official within the IRS to approve and initiate enforcement of the restrictions of ?501(c)(3) against churches and religious organizations, including the electioneering restrictions, as required by law.?
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This non-enforcement ?constitutes preferential treatment to churches and religious organizations that is not provided to other tax-exempt organizations, including FFRF,? the complaint notes. ?Churches and religious organizations obtain a significant benefit as a result of being non-exempt from income taxation, while also being able to preferentially engage in electioneering, which is something secular tax-exempt organizations cannot do.?
This preferential tax exemption involves more than $100 billion annually in tax-free contributions to churches and religious organizations in the United States.
NEW YORK ? For the past three years, the Internal Revenue Service hasn?t been investigating complaints of partisan political activity by churches, leaving religious groups who make direct or thinly veiled endorsements of political candidates unchallenged.
The IRS monitors religious and other nonprofits on everything from salaries to spending, and that oversight continues. However, Russell Renwicks, a manager in the IRS Mid-Atlantic region, recently said the agency had suspended audits of churches suspected of breaching federal restrictions on political activity. A 2009 federal court ruling required the IRS to clarify which high-ranking official could authorize audits over the tax code?s political rules. The IRS has yet to do so.
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