Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Will "reinvention" of IRS include Scientology tax deal probe?

Will "reinvention" of IRS include Scientology tax deal probe?: "But if this commitment to change the IRS is genuine, the agency should consider remedying what may be one of its largest blunders ever: its secret 1993 tax settlement with Scientology in which the IRS granted Scientology tax-exempt status and cut its estimated billion-dollar tax debt to about 1% of that amount. Not only was this deal a reversal of the IRS' 25-year policy regarding the cult's improper, illegal tax procedures, but it also cost taxpayers almost a billion dollars in unpaid taxes and gave Scientology private/religious education tax exemptions not given to any religion.
This 1993 tax deal was secret until recently exposed by the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, and has since captured the interest of tens of millions of US taxpayers, major worldwide corporations with US tax liabilities, and diverse special interest groups with concerns ranging from taxation to religion to separation of church and state.
After repeatedly and justifiably denying Scientology's tax-exempt status, the IRS suddenly reversed its position in 1993 with the secret settlement which granted Scientology religious status and canceled most of the organization's huge tax debt. The mysterious and shocking reversal for the U.S. tax agency came after 25 years of steadfastly refused to provide Scientology with the tax exemption given to normal bona fide churches. Many believe that the scope of what was given away by the IRS to the multi-billion dollar Scientology organization, in financial benefit and other special considerations, is far beyond anything that has been given to any other religious group, corporation, or normal taxpayer."

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