Intimidating the IRS
St. Petersburg Times, published March 11, 1997
Most taxpayers would not be rewarded if they tried to intimidate the
Internal Revenue Service into giving them a break. They also would be
kicked out the door if they barged into the office of the head of the
IRS and demanded to be seen without an appointment. But most taxpayers
are not the Church of Scientology, which succeeded in doing both.
The decision by the IRS in 1993 to give the Church of Scientology the
tax exemption granted to churches surprised many tax experts and
outraged opponents of the organization, which has its spiritual
headquarters in Clearwater. The IRS had refused to grant the exemption
for 25 years, numerous courts had upheld that position and the agency
offered few details about its surprising reversal.
Now a report by the New York Times sheds new light on the
circumstances surrounding the controversial decision. It raises so many
disturbing questions about the integrity of the process that the IRS and
Congress should review the Church of Scientology's tax-exempt status and
determine whether the federal agency acted improperly.
According to the newspaper report, the Church of Scientology's
leader, David Miscavige, marched into IRS headquarters in 1991 and
talked his way into an unscheduled meeting with IRS Commissioner Fred
Goldberg. As a result, Goldberg created a special IRS committee to
negotiate with the Church of Scientology, a peculiar step that did not
follow normal procedure.
When the negotiations resulted in an agreement two years later, IRS
tax analysts were not allowed to give it adequate review, and the
agreement was kept secret. That smacks of special treatment,
particularly when the IRS required Jimmy Swaggart Ministries and an
affiliate of the Rev. Jerry Falwell to publicly acknowledge they paid
back taxes to settle disagreements.
Of course, the IRS had a strong motivation to resolve its differences
with the Church of Scientology and not let the prospect of public
disclosure derail a settlement. The organization's use of private
investigators, lawsuits and other means to harass the IRS has been
well-known for years.
The New York Times report reveals new details about the church's
tactics. Private investigators hired by the church looked for code
violations at a building owned by three IRS officials. They created a
phony news bureau in Washington to collect information on church
critics. The managing editor of the church's Freedom magazine helped
create an IRS whistle-blowers group that was financed by the church. All
of these pressure tactics raise questions about whether the IRS was
improperly influenced in making its decision to grant the church
tax-exempt status.
The Church of Scientology still uses harassment and intimidation to
fight its critics. Freedom magazine is looking for evidence of racial
problems within the Clearwater Police Department. The department just
happens to be investigating the death of Lisa McPherson, a Scientologist
who died in 1995 after spending 17 days at the church's Fort Harrison
Hotel in Clearwater. A lawyer for the church also contacted several of
the pathologists who told the Times that lab results show McPherson was
severely dehydrated when she died, findings that mirror the conclusions
reached by Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner Joan Wood. And more than two
dozen Scientology critics who protested in Clearwater Saturday were
surrounded by more than 200 church members.
The IRS decision to grant tax-exempt status to the Church of
Scientology had an enormous ripple effect. It ended Pinellas County's
battle to keep the organization's property on the local tax rolls. After
Scientology paid $2.5-million in back taxes, the property appraiser
agreed in 1994 to take most of the church property off the tax rolls.
Would the United States be criticizing Germany, which still regards
Scientology as a business, for discriminating against the organization
if the IRS had not granted the tax exemption?
In Washington, the IRS should release details of its secret agreement
with the Church of Scientology. The agency and Congress also should
review whether harassment by the church resulted in a decision based on
something other than sound tax policy.
In Clearwater, the police and the state attorney's office should
continue to investigate McPherson's death without fear of intimidation.
Can anyone stand up to the Church of Scientology?
Copyright 1997 St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.
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