Posted on 11/09/2017 8:20:52 PM PST by EdnaMode
President Trump has thrown his support behind removing the Church of Scientology's tax-exempt status, according to a HuffPost report.
Twitter messages from a Trump family friend and top official at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) claimed that Trump and his family "couldn't agree more" that the church should lose its tax-exempt status.
"From The moment I saw your series I told President Trump & his family we needed to revoke their tax exempt status. They couldn’t agree more, but please don’t publicize that yet," Lynne Patton wrote to actress Leah Remini in the messages obtained by HuffPost. “This is going to get done in the next 4 years or I’ll die trying. Knock on wood!”
Patton is a longtime friend and business associate of the Trump family who has worked with the Trumps since 2009. Last year, she spoke in support of Trump at the Republican National Convention in June.
Remini, who starred on the hit series "King of Queens," is behind the Emmy Award-winning show “Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath.” Season two of the series is now airing. The show is a documentary examining the Church of Scientology and its alleged abuse of critics, which Remini left in 2013.
“I look forward to doing my part to help put an end to this ongoing nightmare and blatant misuse of our IRS rules & regulations," Patton wrote to Remini. "I want to do more research on Scientology’s history with the IRS, to date, so that I can better understand what tactics have been applied and where we can pick up."
It is unclear if Patton ever communicated with the IRS, and a request for comment from HuffPost was not immediately answered. Experts told HuffPost that such an urging from an administration official would likely be illegal.
“For the White House or any administration official to try and influence who the IRS targets, for whatever reason, is wrong and could result in a violation of the law,” said former general counsel of the Federal Election Commission Larry Noble. “The IRS must make these decisions independently without any influence by the White House or administration officials.”
The IRS website states that “the IRS may begin a church tax inquiry only if an appropriate high-level Treasury official reasonably believes, on the basis of facts and circumstances recorded in writing, that an organization claiming to be a church or convention or association of churches may not qualify for exemption.”
Scientology I can't use the same argument.
Agree - and feel sorry for those that have trouble distinguishing between a religion and cult. It’s really not that hard.
Think for a minute. You want federal bureaucrats to decide what is a valid religion and what isn’t?
Is that Christina Hendricks’ picture fourth on the top row?
Say not so.
I believe Church of Scientology is classified as a criminal organization engaged in fraud in Germany. That is why they didn’t allow Tom Cruise to film anything in official German government buildings for the Valyrie movie.
The ACLU is orders of magnitude more dangerous than Scientology and should have had its tax status yanked Jan 21. If Trump wants to keep his eye on the ball, it should be the correct ball.
Yes. even if it came down to all churches being taxed. They would get very little from real churches as they give it all away to missions etc..
Why tax business at all? They just pass it on to us. There goes your 10%.
Tax business at zero—That will attract more business than you can believe.
Tax sales, nothing else.
Larry Noble apparently didn’t pay attention to the last administration and its behaviour.
LRH was a drunk and a lech....at a minimum
Current leadership is beyond abusive.
Scientology may be many things but I suspect SCOTUS would not uphold such a revocation. Would love it if it could be done
I agree with you. Put your flame suit on though because not everyone does
I don’t recognize most of those folks?
Leah Renini should not be included in those pictures as she has not only left but is doing her best to help others leave. Not sure that Nicole Kidmann ever joined...part of why she and Tom spilt. John Brody hardly counts as Hollywood
It is a travesty that Hod’s people ask the government for permission to exists. I personally do not claim my donations to Hod’s work as a tax write off.
The Tech? You mean the phony auditing that is supposed to make you go clear? How about just doing some cognitive behaviour therapy?
#2 It was Bill Clinton who took a bribe from the cult that gave them the tax exempt status.
I know, it is hard to believe that Bill Clinton took a bribe!
“Scientology I can’t use the same argument.”
Hubbard spoke often of inventing a fake religion for his own personal gain.
Then he did.
How is his invention a legitimate religion?
Some of those pictured have left or never really been “involved”...
http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/lists/celebrities-who-have-left-scientology-20130806
That page begins a slide show of those who left...
First Amendment.
First, every org approved for tax exempt status during the Obama and Clinton years -- a threat to Scientology should only be used as a prod to extract good behavior out of Hollyweirdos until that is achieved. THEN lower the boom on the phony religion of L. Ron Dumbass. Thanks EdnaMode.
Along with Universalist Unitarians.
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