The Times makes a very large issue out of the Church/IRS conflicts. What the Church objects to is this being presented as news. Factually, everybody was aware of the Church/IRS conflicts as they were raging in the 1980s and early 1990s. And the reason they knew about those conflicts was because the Church went to great lengths to see that details of such were published. For The Times to report them as some “new controversy” is simply not accurate.
While reporting the Church was involved in extensive litigation
with the IRS in the late 1980s and early 1990s (was anybody in America unaware of that?), omitted is that
the primary thrust of Church litigation against the IRS was under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Namely, the Church was trying to obtain government documents evidencing discriminatory conduct and
actions against the Church. The result of such litigation — literally hundreds of cases — was just that.
Indeed, one Federal judge credited the Church with reforming IRS procedures which directly
benefited “over 1,000 cases involving identical legal issues.” It is virtually impossible to read
a page in an FOIA casebook today without finding a precedent set by the Church of Scientology.
Additionally, in exposing IRS misconduct in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Church was at least partially responsible for many reforms that now benefit all Americans:
- The discovery of some IRS agents attending Tax Ethics Seminars at vacation resorts certainly led to reform.
- The Taxpayer Bill of Rights contains many provisions fought for by the Church of Scientology.
- We contributed to the discovery and publication of computer abuse that could have resulted in $1 billion in incorrect assessments.
- We were even commended by the U.S. Supreme Court for having persevered through IRS stonewalling by bringing an issue to the highest court, resulting in the restoration of Federal Court powers over the IRS.
The point is this: Those conflicts reported as “new news” actually took place almost a decade ago and have already been extensively covered in the media.
Tax-Exempt Recognition continued...
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