While I hate them, I will give the Church of Scientology credit for one thing—they are the only group I know of that out bullied the IRS. For decades the IRS refused to recognize them as a religion for tax exempt status, and claimed they owed hundreds of millions. When the IRS put a tax lien on their HQ, they followed L. Ron Hubbard’s dictum to never defend, always attack. They infiltrated members into the IRS and hired PIs to dig up dirt on everyone at the IRS who worked on the case. They stole massive amounts of documents, and claimed unknown parties just dropped them off. Then they filed multiple lawsuits against not only the IRS, but the employees involved, even demonstrated at their homes. Like all bullies, the IRS is better at dishing it out than taking it. Eventually they waived most of the money “owed” and settled for a one time payment of 12.5 million in exchange for tax exempt status for the church and over 100 subsidiary organizations.
amazing! This was all round the early 1990s