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John, In recent years, we’ve seen an alarming pattern of right-wing political groups self-identifying as “churches” to take advantage of special tax rules that shield their activities from public scrutiny and disclosure. It’s cynical, corrupt, and it’s a growing problem. This month, I led several members of Congress in calling on the IRS to investigate these fake-church scams – in particular, the Family Research Council (FRC) which has been a driving force behind Republican efforts to ban abortion including the overturning of Roe v. Wade. The FRC describes itself as a political advocacy organization dedicated to informing “the news media, the academic community, business leaders, and the general public about family issues that affect the nation from a biblical worldview.” FRC is known for aggressively pushing its anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ political agenda. Now, FRC is also known as a church – even though it’s clearly not one. That’s because the IRS has been so worn-down by Republican attacks that it perfunctorily approves absurd schemes by rightwing political groups who want to hide behind “church” status. Religious freedom is a foundational constitutional right and deeply held American value, but the functioning of our democratic republic also depends on the integrity and fair application of our tax laws. We need an IRS that’s not afraid to do its job regardless of rightwing intimidation. There’s too much dark money in politics already. Allowing blatantly political groups to avoid public disclosures and scrutiny by masquerading as churches will make it even worse. The IRS must re-examine the FRC’s purported “church” status and review its own process for deciding on church status applications. This is the least the IRS can do to prevent further exploitation of the tax code and to help restore public confidence in our institutions. John, add your name to join me in this work to support public accountability. Thanks for standing up for democracy. Jared
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