[csusbpeace] A Right-Wing Think Tank Claimed to Be a Church. Now, Members of Congress Want to Investigate.
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- Date: Fri, 7 Oct 2022 06:08:48 -0700
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A Right-Wing Think Tank Claimed to Be a Church. Now, Members of Congress Want
to Investigate.
Forty lawmakers are calling on the IRS and the Treasury to investigate after
ProPublica reported that the Family Research Council gained protections by
claiming it is a church.
Aug. 2
The Family Research Council’s president, Tony Perkins, speaks at the 2016
Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty
Images
Forty members of Congress on Monday asked the IRS and the Treasury to
investigate what the lawmakers termed an “alarming pattern” of right-wing
advocacy groups registering with the tax agency as churches, a move that
allows the organizations to shield themselves from some financial reporting
requirements and makes it easier to avoid audits.
Reps. Jared Huffman, D-Calif.
<https://projects.propublica.org/represent/members/H001068-jared-huffman>,
and Suzan DelBene, D-Wash.
<https://projects.propublica.org/represent/members/D000617-suzan-k-delbene>,
raised transparency concerns in a letter to the heads of both agencies
<https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/22124175-letter-to-the-irs-on-the-family-research-council>
following a ProPublica story about the Family Research Council
<https://www.propublica.org/article/family-research-council-irs-church-status>,
a right-wing Christian think tank based in Washington, D.C., getting
reclassified as a church. Thirty-eight other lawmakers, including Reps. Adam
Schiff, D-Calif.
<https://projects.propublica.org/represent/members/S001150-adam-b-schiff>,
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla.
<https://projects.propublica.org/represent/members/W000797-debbie-wasserman-schultz>,
Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.
<https://projects.propublica.org/represent/members/T000481-rashida-tlaib>,
and Jamie Raskin, D-Md.
<https://projects.propublica.org/represent/members/R000606-jamie-raskin>,
signed onto the letter.
“FRC is one example of an alarming pattern in the last decade — right-wing
advocacy groups self-identifying as ‘churches’ and applying for and receiving
church status,” the representatives wrote, noting the organization’s policy
work supporting the overturning of Roe v. Wade and its advocacy for
legislation seeking to ban gender-affirming surgery.
“Tax-exempt organizations should not be exploiting tax laws applicable to
churches to avoid public accountability and the IRS’s examination of their
activities,” they wrote.
The Family Research Council did not respond to requests for comment. The IRS
told ProPublica that it does not comment on congressional correspondence.
The FRC’s website describes the organization as “a nonprofit research and
educational organization dedicated to articulating and advancing a
family-centered philosophy of public life,” noting that it provides “policy
research and analysis for the legislative, executive, and judicial branches
of the federal government.”
The FRC sought and received reclassification from a standard tax-exempt
charity to an “association of churches” in 2020.
In its application for church status
<https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/22078967-family-research-council-1023>,
the organization said it met 11 of the 14 characteristics that the IRS uses
to determine whether an organization is a church, including an established
place of worship — a chapel in the organization’s Washington office building,
at which it said it holds services attended by more than 65 people. (Someone
who answered the phone at the office said the group doesn’t offer church
services.) The organization said its association comprises nearly 40,000
“partner churches” that must affirm a statement of faith to join; it did not
offer the names of those partners on its form to the IRS or provide them to
ProPublica.
The representatives’ letter asks the IRS to review the FRC’s status change
and to examine its review process for organizations similarly seeking to
switch their status to become a church or association of churches.
“It’s disturbing that a letter like this is even necessary,” Huffman said.
“Unfortunately our IRS has been so worn down and beaten up by the right wing
that they have essentially ceased all scrutiny of organizations that
self-report as churches.”
The IRS classifies churches and associations of churches as tax-exempt
charitable organizations, meaning that they do not have to pay federal taxes
and that donors can deduct contributions from their own taxes. However,
churches are exempt from submitting Form 990, the annual financial disclosure
that nonprofit organizations use to list board members, key staffer salaries,
large payments to independent contractors and grants given by the
organization.
And unlike for other tax-exempt organizations, a high-level Treasury official
must sign off on any audit of a church.
“We understand the importance of religious institutions to their congregants
and believe that religious freedom is a cherished American value and
constitutional right. We also believe that our tax code must be applied
fairly and judiciously,” Huffman and DelBene wrote.
In their letter, the representatives asked for feedback from the IRS on
whether it needs additional direction from Congress to enforce rules
surrounding tax-exempt organizations and churches. Huffman said that he hopes
to pursue legislative action if the IRS isn’t able to address these concerns,
but that the letter is a first step.
“You need to start here — give the agency a chance to clean up its mess,” he
said.
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