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IRS Issues Report Approving Its Political Speech Investigations
Anthony Picarello
To no one's surprise, the IRS recently determined that most of its investigations of tax-exempt organizations (including churches) for engaging in forbidden political speech were warranted.
But because the IRS keeps these investigations confidential, it is free to declare in its report that a complaint had merit, even when the investigated church disagrees. And its determinations also haven't been tested by Article III courts, with their pesky adversarial process, their openness to press coverage, and -- most importantly -- their power to declare IRS actions unconstitutional.
In another shocker, the IRS released its report on a Friday, increasing the chances that coverage of its investigation of preaching from the pulpit would be limited to the Saturday papers. A story in Saturday's New York Times includes this excerpt:
Almost half the tax-exempt groups under examination are churches. ...
Of the 47 complaints against churches under investigation, 37 were found to have merit. The agency found that three had no merit, and seven examinations were pending. Over all, 82 of 110 examinations have been completed.
All Saints Church, a liberal Episcopal church in Pasadena, Calif., is among those awaiting a decision. The agency began an investigation after a former pastor gave a sermon in which he imagined a debate among Jesus, President Bush and Senator John Kerry and in which he criticized the Iraq conflict.
A lawyer for All Saints, Marcus Owens, said he did not know the status of the investigation.
"The I.R.S. agent assigned to All Saints doesn't even return my calls," Mr. Owens said. "The I.R.S. sent an inquiry and then an examination letter. It has never done anything further."
Click here for the full NY Times story. Click here for the IRS Report.