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.”
I'm not suggesting it is a legitimate religion. I'm saying I don't know how to prove in court that it is an illegitimate religion.
As I said I believe i can do that with Islam though because Islam goes AGAINST the first amendment of the no establishment clause. Islam requires an establishment.
“I’m saying I don’t know how to prove in court that it is an illegitimate religion.”
Testimony of witnesses wouldn’t do it?
Such as Islam requiring everyone to strive for Darul Islam (house of Islam) which is a theocracy.
I did not know that. But it's true. Our nation's oldest ass grabber needs to go by more than just width.
I did not know that. But it's true. Our nation's oldest ass grabber needs to go by more than just width.
It’s not really a secret that it was fraudulently and cynically ginned up out of whole cloth.
That’s got to be worth something, even in a court of law.
...”I question why any church or religious organization should get special treatment from the IRS or tax code.”...
Me, too. If separation of church and state is real, then why do we have religious contributions mixed up in our tax code. I would also apply the same to charities. This one thing opens the door to disingenuous and dishonest giving all the way around. Have you seen any religious leaders give preference and lots of attentions to big givers? Have you seen them have leadership positions in the church which they were not qualified for? Look no further for a reason why we should continue tax provisions for givers. Removing that encouragement might offer a cleansing that the church is in need of right now.
Because TAXES DESTROY.
That idea was covered already, in first grade.
Head to the back of the class.
Islam is NOT a religion. It is a terrorist cult with the primary goal of convincing it's members to kill infidels. Muslims are taught their prophet Mohamed will NOT return until all infidels are either converted to Islam or killed.
We see numerous examples in Europe and the US where Muslims indiscriminately kill, the most recent in NYC where a rental truck was used to run down innocent people.
If YOU are not a Muslim, there are people who want to kill you.
“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.”
I agree. I don’t see why any “charity” gets tax exemption since most are just businesses that do nice (charitable) things as they see them.
Being tax exempt has stifled the mouths of many pastor’s, fear of losing their tax exempt status. It doesn’t seem God would want any truthful upstanding charity/business to have to operate restricted in such ways.
L. Ron Hubbard
Churches are a charity because they do charitable work. The difference is that churches don’t pay property taxes on their worship spaces.
“I question why any church or religious organization should get special treatment from the IRS or tax code.”
In the case of Scientology, all it took was a massive contribution to Bill Clinton.
Please! Scientology is NOT a religion. Not even close.
It isn’t a valid religion, that’s the point. Take a deep breath and come back.
Any supposed religion that pits family members against each other for the sake of said religion isn’t one. LRH was a scam artist and a Satanist.
You learned nothing. Rot in hell.
islam is recognized as a religion. If you’ve been here even a short while, you know how they treat family members.
Thank you for your kind thoughts as to my ultimate reward. I’ll save you a seat.
Theoretically we have the same choices with our IRS "donations" through our elected representatives...
Whoops... there goes another special interest group.
Hillary will be talking to them about the fascist Trump government.
According to the web, there’s about 25,000 in the US. In a way, I’m surprised the number is that low, because they punch well above their weight in Hollywood. A surprising number of actors buy into it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.