IRS Cautions Churches About Rules On Politics From The Pulpit

[Playinghardball]

For a few years now, right-wing leaning church leaders have consistently stepped over the line to become deeply involved in politics. They have heavily criticized President Obama and have made every effort to inject religion into policy, all while remaining tax-exempt organizations. And finally, the IRS may have had enough.

According to KWTX 10 News:

IRS regional manager Peter Lorenzetti told pastors attending the Faith Leaders Summit meeting in Washington that activities that could result in loss of tax-exempt status include endorsing or opposing candidates, campaigning for them or making contributions to their campaigns.

There is a loophole for pastors to exploit, however. As long as they claim to be acting in the capacity of a private citizen, pastors can do all of the above with impunity. They can also hand out voter guides that “educate” about issues.

I think most of us would agree that churches and their leaders have stuck their noses into political matters long enough. And their interference has been quite devastating to the country. The Catholic Church in particular has been very vocal in the political realm, opposing everything from contraception, to Planned Parenthood, to same-sex marriage and health care. And the Catholic Church has done this all while pulling in a whopping $2.9 billion in taxpayer money. And the Church doesn’t pay one dime in taxes. So while the crazy right-wing priests of the Church complain about government policy, and criticize President Obama while touting conservatism, they’re literally rolling in billions of dollars of tax-free federal cash.

More at: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/06/04/p/

[HockeyMom]

1. Now, the Catholic Church is attacking the Girl Scouts

not a CATHOLIC organization. Secular organizations now have to follow religious organizations? TAX THEM when they try to impose their religous tenets on secular organizations.

[Not Me]

2. It will be interesting to see

a.) if they actually DO enforce the rules, and,
b.) if a priest or parish violate the rules, will they hold the church, the diocese, or the entire RC organization accountable?

I can guarantee that if an individual church held the larger organization at jeopardy, this crap would stop immediately.

[Igel]

5. The diocese on account of the parish.

The parish is under the diocesan umbrella, which holds the tax-exempt status. Any fine or censure would be commensurate with the offense at the parish level.

I'm not actually sure the national RC organization has a single parish. It does have officials, however.

[99Forever]

3. I'll beleive it when I see it happen and not one second sooner.

The "stern talking to" will, as always, accomplish squat.


Meh.

[Liberal Veteran]

4. I'm sure the churches are bowel liquifyingly chastened....

...at such a horrific warning.

[Igel]

6. You make an overbroad generalization as you go from the quote to your exegesis.

A 501(c)(3) corporation can't get involved in partisan politics.

Partisan politics is defined rather narrowly. It involves a party's candidates. There is no partisan issue. Gay rights/DOMA? Not partisan. A party may support the issue, but it's not running the issue for office.

And if it's not a candidate--say, you don't like so-and-so's nomination for SCOTUS--it's not partisan politics.

There's no curb on political speech, even in a church or Greenpeace. You can rant all you want about how horrible Congress is for some law or conduct, how wonderful (or nasty) Obama is because of his support for something or other. As long as there's no election in the offing, it's not partisan politics. As long as what you say doesn't translate into support or opposition of a candidate, it's not partisan politics. It makes it ticklish to talk about a sitting president's accomplishments, but not impossible, whether your corporation is a church or a charity or an environmental group.

It also gets ticklish if a candidate closely identifies with a particular policy proposal. Then criticism of his policy can easily be interpreted as criticism of a candidate. The IRS usually tries to define "partisan politics" narrowly simply because to define it broadly would involve some serious I Amendment issues.

[Politicalboi]

7. Do it already

We already know of times they broke the rules. Back tax them for over 30 years worth of shit they've spewed. Can't we start petitions to make them pay taxes? Mob rule and all.

[DCKit]

8. For real, send 'em a tax bill, then let them try to talk their way out of it. nt

[yellowcanine]

9. But you can still say from the pulpit, "Call the President and tell him to stop killing babies."

No rules against blood libel of politicians.