You might recall that Tony Perkins, the loathsome gay-obsessed leader of the Family Research Council (FRC), managed to get his organization declared to be a church for tax purposes.
So, how’s that going, Tony?
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., and Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., raised transparency concerns in a letter to the heads of both agencies following a ProPublica story about the Family Research Council, 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., Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Jamie Raskin, D-Md., 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.
Yeah, I wouldn’t imagine FRC would respond to press questions about that.
I would write LOL as many times as I think are deserved, but it might be annoying to you.
You can read the rest of Andrea Suozzo’s ProPublica article at this link.
