COMMENT: An End to Politically Motivated Audits of Churches? How Amendment to Section 7217 Can Preserve Integrity in the Tax Investigation of Churches Under Section 7611

The Service treads on delicate ground whenever it inquires into the activities of a church, given the federal government's historically sensitive relationship with organized religion. This uneasy situation is reflected in the Service's pending investigation into All Saints Episcopal Church...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Tax lawyer 2007-01, Vol.60 (2), p.503
Main Author: Garthwaite, Leslie S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Auditing
Church & state
Endorsements
Episcopal churches
Influence
Investigations
Nonprofit organizations
Political campaigns
Presidential elections
Sermons
Tax exempt organizations
Violations
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Summary:The Service treads on delicate ground whenever it inquires into the activities of a church, given the federal government's historically sensitive relationship with organized religion. This uneasy situation is reflected in the Service's pending investigation into All Saints Episcopal Church ("ASE") of Pasadena, California, a large and progressive church. In the weekend before the 2004 elections, ASE hosted a sermon that allegedly endorsed presidential candidate Senator John Kerry over the more conservative sitting President George W Bush. As politicking from the pulpit is prohibited by the Code, this endorsement would have been a violation of the terms of ASE's tax exempt status. The Service was supposedly tipped off to this potential violation through the publication of an article about the sermon in a Los Angeles newspaper. The first part of this Comment introduces the Code's ban on political activities by tax exempt entities, including churches, and the specific controversy surrounding ASE. Part II discusses section 7611's process for conducting an audit of a church. It examines how the use of anonymous tips opens the Service to allegations of selective enforcement based on improper motives. This Comment concludes that the Service acts at its peril when the appearance of political influence is present in auditing decisions.
ISSN:0040-005X
2329-6089