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July 18, 2006

New IRS Enforcement Initiative Likely Meaningless

A new IRS initiative, called the Political Activity Compliance Initiative, is being billed as an effort to pursue churches and other nonprofits engaging in politicking in violation of their 501(c)3 status.

Under the initiative, the IRS plans to expedite investigations into claims of improper campaigning, no longer waiting for an annual tax return to be filed or the tax year to end before launching a probe. A three-member committee will make an initial review of complaints and then vote on whether to pursue the investigation in detail.

Before you get too excited, though, remember that the IRS is ultimately a politically-controlled organization. I learned that when an IRS investigation into Oregon Taxpayers United's Education Foundation for falsifying tax returns and engaging in political activity was quietly dropped. Fortunately, a local judge was able to step in and order the Foundation shut down, calling it a "sham charity." But the IRS, despite clear evidence, did nothing. I found that interesting considering all the talk amongst conservatives during the Clinton years about how the IRS was being used to harrass conservative organizations.

What I'm getting at is that, barring a regime change in Washington, we can probably expect the IRS to pursue instances of Democratic politicking in churches, but not Republican politicking in churches. Take, for instance, the ongoing IRS investigation of All Saints Church in Pasadena.

Two days before the 2004 presidential election, the Rev. George F. Regas, the church's former rector, delivered a guest sermon that pictured Jesus in a debate with George W. Bush and John Kerry. Although Regas didn't endorse a candidate, he said Jesus would have told Bush that his pre-emptive war policy "has led to disaster."

I don't doubt that the investigation would have been dropped by now – if it had ever even begun – had Jesus told Kerry that George W. Bush was doing God's will when he ousted Saddam Hussein. And frankly, I'm sick to death of politically-motivated enforcement. Unless partisanship and politics are kept out of the legal branch - including enforcement within various government agencies - then we really have no law at all.

Posted by Becky at July 18, 2006 08:38 AM