If Grassley has a beef, he needs to call the IRS or the Attorney General. What is the allegation of wrongdoing? Do we need a Ministry windfall profits tax? When sports stars, pornographers or dot com whiz kids make millions, no one calls for a Senate investigation. This is a Grassley warning to Evangelicals not to endorse the wrong candidates and to be sure to donate to the right ones.
Your right, it's an old fashioned shake down.
I find it strange that Grassley is getting involved into something that is of no concern for him. If I were these religious groups...I’d trump him with freedom of religion and demand that he let the IRS do their job. Grassley and these idiots in the Senate and House wrote these rules and laws...and IRS can only obey them.
What further complicates this matter...is that he won’t go after Scientology, which is the king of the fake religions.
If Grassley wants to have impact...just write a simple law that says that no church can take in more than $2000 per member per year...and the rest after that...is taxed as a corporation. You force each church to name membership and thier social security numbers in order to claim the tax-free status. If you have a congregation of 200 members...then you have up to $400k per year. These mega churches and the various “services” they are providing...are all taxable organizations in my book. Grassley fails to grasp this and fails to write regulations to rein in this mess.