OPERATION SUNSHINE WEEK FTW!!1! (Mar13-19 2011)

[AnonLover]

Crossposting relevant excerpts from WWP (with a few typos fixed):
http://forums.whyweprotest.net/threads/ ... 011.69197/

Gentlemen, lazers were charged, politico harpoons fired and a paper raid has been officially launched to take one small step towards unraveling the ball of yarn that is the Church of Scientology's Tax Exempt Status & Special Tax Breaks in the USA.

At the end of last week, Project Chanology Anons with the aid of xenubarb as the honorary namefag, have filed an FOIA Request on the I.R.S. to release the finalized Closing Agreements of the 1993 settlement in the Church of Scientology vs. I.R.S. affair. The public domain versions of the dox in said paper raid are indexed under the FOIA section here:

http://www.exposescientology.com/scientologyirs.html

Although we have the unofficial draft copy of the final agreement leaked to the Wall Street Journal long ago, prior FOIA requests and subpeonas for the FINALIZED agreement and all other related IRS investigation files on scilons has always been b&.

However, we have requested the finalized closing agreement ONLY, plus leveraged a recent series of footbullets by Senator Grassley when he dropped the ball on his 3yr investigation into media-based ministries, with an added twist of exploiting the upcoming Sunshine Week national platform for promoting FOIA, sunshine laws and our right to know.



The gameplan goes liek this:

1. File IRS FOIA request calling for the release of closing settlement agreement by the end of Sunshine Week. CC key players [DONE!]

2. Apply pressure as we wait for IRS rejection **
3. Get Rejection, Richochet it right bak into Senator's Grassley's lap with open letter presser
4. ...
5. Profit.

**Your HALP needed on step 2 to promote sunshine & lollipops faggotry, "TAX THE CULT" and "GIVE UP THE DOX" adlib themes in your upcoming protests & harpooning efforts. Moar on this in next post.

Note: we fully expect the FOIA Request filed on the IRS to be Rejected. That's part of the plan, although its a mighty fine request - the point is for it to FAIL so that we have a spark to ignite a fire. The time is right, the coals are hot AND with this FOIA request we have a poker in the firepit to stir up some flames under the cult's special tax priviledges that violates the establishment clause. See http://www.taxthecult.com for all the important facts you need to know on this matter.

Once our FOIA Request is denied, we will gain a hardfast 21st century clarification of the exact reason why the I.R.S. will not give up the dox on the closing settlement agreement only - all while keeping the sekrit investion files sekrit. This will atleast give us a firm starting point for pursuing further actions on the IRS tax front AND help to greatly ease the current which comes first, the chicken or the egg situation we have surrounding where the ball of yarn that needs unraveled begin.

And who knows, if the stars align with rainbows in a land where the unicorns lay down with lions -- we might just actually get DOX on this initial attempt at sticking our big toe into the murky waters of politicized FOIA favoritism. In which case we have a firm starting line drawn in the stand instead of just a meager starting point.

But for the sake of keepin it real = Chances our this initial filing is just for lulz of shining the light of day on the fact that everybody prefers to ignore the issues surrounding the cult of Scientology. Besides, if u see lions - suggest you get in the car, nevermind the unicorn.

So we say to our chanology brothers - SUNSHINE WEEK FTW!!1! **Let the IRL Raids & Pooning begin!!

Also - Lookout IRS & Senator Grassley... HERE WE COME!!!!!!!!!!!! Plox Let the Sunshine In or else moar FOIA related faggotry will ensue on a larger scale.

Sunshine and lollipops for ALL! Which of you glorious bastards are bringing the caek?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vnKrh5QYgo

Related Suggestions & Inspirational Thoughts for Sunshine Week Raids:

Promote TaxTheCult.com as much you can

Hubbard's birthday coincidentally falls on the first day of Sunshine Week - Sunday March 13th. We have challenged the IRS to release the dox by the end of Sunshine Week. So plox consider adopting the adlib theme of sunshine & lollipops = tax the cult into your existing LRH birthday festivities on the weekend before Sunshine Week.

Consider having a rally outside of your local IRS offices, OR outside of your American Embassy from other lands abroad, at the end of the Sunshine Week - Saturday March 19th. Use sunshine and lollipops to target the general public with raising awareness of Scientology's special tax breaks.

You can even haz pretty flyer/poster/sign template, compliments of xenubarb - just add text that suits your needs:



CHALLENGE: +10 internets to the first faggot to show up in a vid wearing a Jimmy Dean's breakfast shining sun or similar costume and licking a gigantic lollipop. (RIF & Glibby: we're looking at you babe)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btXC_Y4BetQ

Yes themes are gay. And so is the IRS so its all good. And this is a call for an adlib wing-it theme for general lulzy faggotry of epic proportions while spreading the word of "tax the cult". Do with it what you will - Sunshine & Lollipops For ALL! FTW!!1!



Lots of other sunshine week stuff ripe for reuse & shooping is readily here, check out all the options under "Toolkits"

http://www.sunshineweek.org/

Got No Cult To Protest? Well here's the perfect opportunity to demonstrate for the cause in other ways.

Go Protest the IRS (or US Embassy) and let them know we think their gay - like sunshine & lollipops - and that its time to give up the dox!

In the US, Find your local IRS office here:

http://www.irs.gov/localcontacts/index.html

It greatly helped having a NATIONAL CAMPAIGN specifically for FOIA RIGHTS so perfectly timed and ripe for pwning.

Sunshine Week, Starting on Hubbard's 100th birthday, FTW!!1!

What is Sunshine Week?

Sunshine Week is a national initiative to promote a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. Participants include news media, civic groups, libraries, nonprofits, schools and others interested in the public's right to know.

Sunshine Week as a national effort is spearheaded by the American Society of News Editors. The key funder has been the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, with significant support from ASNE Foundation. In 2011, The Gridiron Club and Foundation contributed $10,000.

Though created by journalists, Sunshine Week is about the public's right to know what its government is doing, and why.

Sunshine Week seeks to enlighten and empower people to play an active role in their government at all levels, and to give them access to information that makes their lives better and their communities stronger.

Sunshine Week is a nonpartisan, non-profit initiative.

How did Sunshine Week begin?

Like many families, Sunshine Week's grandfather lives in Florida.

The Florida Society of Newspaper Editors launched Sunshine Sunday in 2002 in response to efforts by some Florida legislators to create scores of new exemptions to the state's public records law. FSNE estimates that some 300 exemptions to open government laws were defeated in the legislative sessions that followed its three Sunshine Sundays, because of the increased public and legislative awareness that resulted from the Sunshine Sunday reports and commentary.

Several states followed Florida's lead, and in June 2003, ASNE hosted a Freedom of Information Summit in Washington where the seeds for Sunshine Week were planted. (For more about the origins of Sunshine Week, read online the article "Sunshine Sunday: Making the Case for Open Access" in the January-February 2005 issue of The American Editor.)

With an inaugural grant from Knight Foundation, ASNE launched Sunshine Week in March 2005. It continues to be celebrated each year in mid-March, coinciding with National FOI Day and James Madison's birthday on March 16.

continued: http://sunshineweek.org/About.aspx

The potential picking opportunities related to this initiative are still in the early planning stage, hopefully more news to come on when/where sunshine & lollipops will reign supreme during Sunshine Week 2011 in the days ahead, once individual cells & local groups figure out what they want to do.

[Benny's Friend]

Note: we fully expect the FOIA Request filed on the IRS to be Rejected. That's part of the plan, although its a mighty fine request - the point is for it to FAIL so that we have a spark to ignite a fire. The time is right, the coals are hot AND with this FOIA request we have a poker in the firepit to stir up some flames under the cult's special tax priviledges that violates the establishment clause. See http://www.taxthecult.com for all the important facts you need to know on this matter.

Once our FOIA Request is denied, we will gain a hardfast 21st century clarification of the exact reason why the I.R.S. will not give up the dox on the closing settlement agreement only - all while keeping the sekrit investion files sekrit. This will atleast give us a firm starting point for pursuing further actions on the IRS tax front AND help to greatly ease the current which comes first, the chicken or the egg situation we have surrounding where the ball of yarn that needs unraveled begin.

Wow...this is genius. Bravo!

[Sponge]

[AnonLover]

Wow...this is genius. Bravo!

Thks! a bit more on the reasons why a rejection is still WIN from original wwp thread...

But therein lies the beauty of Operation Sunshine Week - even if we get no DOX, its still WIN because:

I. The reason WHY we get no dox becomes a firm target. Firm targets stay still and allow for future heat seeking scud missile harpoons to be launched endlessly.

II. The IRS has to openly admits it is gay and its full of FAIL, and essentially rolls out the red carpet for lulz lasting a longtime at their expense.

III. Firm Target + Open Admission of Fail = a lulzapalooza platform to hound both congress AND President Obama until they too admit their gay and full of FAIL when it comes to Scientology. Then we can use that platform to entice John Q. Public that thinks scientology is batshit insane to join in the ridicule of said FAIL on neutral ground of Sunshine Week (so they dont actually have to be one of us to protest cuz its wide open for anybody to do their own thing and still be on the same general bandwagon)

IV. Sunshine Week happens once a year, every year - and perpetually gives us a national campaign we can pwn. Although we'll just wing it this year with adlib sub-themes, just imagine what we can do for 2012 Sunshine Week with an entire year to prepare.

V. And beyond 2012 - Chanology can haz their very own annual spring fling week-long celebration event of epic faggotry. Sorta like Mardi Gras except the carnival happens outside the IRS.

VI. We can eventually make Sunshine Week synonymous with national loathing of the IRS & International loathing of the US if we need too... and turn the national campaign into a shrine for showcasing the US government's hypocrisy of not admitting that Scientology is essentially the national religion due to their special tax breaks.

VII. Grassley gets mocked for now - for starters, since he already got his pants down waiting to be spanked with his nose firmly pressed to the crotch of the religous right. But lots more congress critters can be targeted for mocking later. Every politician who opens their mouth about open government, more transparency or FOIA rights can forevermore be made to run the gauntlet of "O RLY??? What About Scientology?" ridicule which provides ample reason & letter writing fodder for repeat pooning throughout the year.


IOW - all we need is the IRS' 21st century reason for rejection, and its GAME ON at a whole new exciting level of play. Chanology can then graduate by osmosis from being crayon toting tards into being fully enabled punk ass kids on the street corner heckling the IRS, congress, and the President on behalf of the american public who already fully hates scilons thanks to us. We can then become the true embodiment of the Sunshine Week motto - Be A Hero, Get the Dox, Its YOUR Right To Know.

Also, sunshine is the one thing that can defeat snow. Anonymous wins twice!

Besides, when the IRS does refuse, we fork Grassley.

[AnonLover]

Almost forgot - ShoutOut to Atlanta Protesters,

Note that the FOIA will be getting processed right in your backyard, by IRS peeps who werk here:

2385 Chamblee Tucker Road
Chamblee, GA 30341

Looks to be North Atlanta, just below Dunwoody:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=&q=C.... ... 17294&z=11

So Ya'all are in the utlimate hot spot to Tell The IRS Sunshine & Lollipops = Drop the Dox! And TaxTheCult.com while their at it.

There is also lots of cool cafepress Tshirts & shi- available here with the national campaign logos to send the message loud 'n clear why your there:
http://www.cafepress.com/sunshineweek

Also - Updates to http://www.taxthecult.com currently underway, by endoweek we should have some new content added for sunshine week promotion, links to FOIA stuff that was filed & an article based on the recent Tikk post on inurement

[skeptic2girl]

"Note: we fully expect the FOIA Request filed on the IRS to be Rejected. That's part of the plan, although its a mighty fine request - the point is for it to FAIL so that we have a spark to ignite a fire."

At the risk of sounding like a heart-on-my-sleeve idealist, maybe there should also be preparation for the request to be accepted...

[AnonLover]

"Note: we fully expect the FOIA Request filed on the IRS to be Rejected. That's part of the plan, although its a mighty fine request - the point is for it to FAIL so that we have a spark to ignite a fire."

At the risk of sounding like a heart-on-my-sleeve idealist, maybe there should also be preparation for the request to be accepted...

oh thats the easy part... there is a saying "anons eat dox and shi- WIN" that would apply in that case. So first off we would release the dox online, determine if what everybody thought they think they knew about the closing agreement from the unofficial version was actually the case in the final one and then spread that info far and wide. Then we commence to unravel the bar of yarn that is the tax exemption based on what we find and can officially demonize with official dox to prove it.

iow - our dreams of sunshine and lollipops in a perfect world would come true, and the srs bizness work to revoke the tax exemption would begin at the starting line in the sand the finalized agreement will give us. But without knowing what the finalized agreement may or may not reveal, its sorta hard to plan what the next steps of that attack for getting the tax exemption revoked would include specifically.

EDIT - Vid related:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_v468ptuXw

[AnonLover]

crossposting latest smack

bump for fliers & leaflets!

Operation Sunshine Week Poster
(Add your own text to customize to your needs)

Graphic - Image Album

Simple Tax the Cult Leaflet from yesteryear
(Single sided b&w 2x2)

scribd: http://www.scribd.com/doc/49354533/Revo ... tion-Flyer
fileshare: http://www.mediafire.com/?6czt11aa0k2yk9k

Anony Sunshine Week Flyer
(2 full-size color pages, can be used separately or combined for a dbl-sided tri-fold)

Front graphic - Anony Sunshine Week - - [url=https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_131b ... ier1cx.jpg]Image Album
Back graphic - Top 10 Reasons to Tax Cult - Fileshare - Image Album
Back PDF - Top 10 Reasons document w/ links - Scribd - Fileshare
2pg PDF - Both pages in graphic form - Scribd - Fileshare

Generic FOIA Infographics [native sunshineweek.org stuff]
(2 full-size color pages, can be used separately or combined for dbl-sided deal)

Front - Using the FOIA - Image sauce- Album mirror
Back - Government Secrecy - Image sauce - Album mirror

Full set of artwork goodies here: https://picasaweb.google.com/AnonLover2 ... directlink

See also - Sunshine Week announcement now posted on http://www.TaxTheCult.com

[Sponge]

Gentlemen,

Sunshine week has begun. To see the hot topics brewing this year checkout the headlines on the official blog below & surf google news for "sunshine week"

http://www.sunshineweek.org/About/SunshineWeekBlog.aspx

The due date for the paper raid challenge on the IRS to release dox by the end of this week is coming due, and TODAY should be the mandated 20day response due date (which means xenubarb may or may not get a written response sent via snail mail before the week is even over).

If the IRS denies our request - propose US cells start to consider doing additional local IRS raids like DCfags did, and hit 'em hard on Tax Day - April 15th while harpoons take aim at Senator Grassley and the administrative appeal (no lawfag required) step gets filed.

In the US, Find your local IRS office here:

http://www.irs.gov/localcontacts/index.html

http://forums.whyweprotest.net/threads/ ... st-1448396

[AnonLover]

DCfags post-game picket report from FOI rally turned sunshine raid on the IRS that was held March 12:
http://forums.whyweprotest.net/threads/ ... rch.77822/

[Don Carlo]

My understanding is that the IRS can't go back before Dec 31, 1999 and change anything. It would also be an unwelcome fight to change the tax treatment for the years 2000-2010, since the IRS appears to have allowed tax deductibility for fixed donations for religious services in those years, under the protection of Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993. But, the IRS could for the 2011 tax year FIGHT CoS and any of its so-called charities, now, saying they "failed the operational test*" and are NOT charities because, allegedly
1. Miscavige violated rules on self-dealing (Miscavige's lavish lifestyle suggesting his hand is in the cookie jar),
2. Miscavige knowingly committed acts of fraud or criminal conduct that might constitute a violation of public policy, as laid out in the St. Pete Times articles, hitting and imprisoning staff, allowing child labor, etc.
3. Miscavige was a sole dictator with pre-signed letters of resignation for those under him on corporate boards. For example, Heber Jentzsch is in mysterious and probably abusive seclusion, despite being a President. Other highest officers were forced out rather than the legally required dignified resignation. This violates federal and California charity policy about no single leader with unchecked power.
4. CoS aggressively pushes its members to fund-raise and donate to Int'l Assoc of Scientologists and other legal-attack corporations, which are designed to be unattached to the Church of Scientology and the other top "religious" corps. These monies go into private investigators and anti-free-speech lawsuits which are not a suitable use of a charity's resources. IAS, and related attack-orgs are NAMED in the IRS Secret Agreement.**
5. CoS gets religious privileges, yet mixes religious with non-religious. The Secret Agreement says,

VII.B. Until … December 31, 1999, the Service agrees not to contest the deductibility of Church of Scientology fixed donations in connection with qualified religious services (those appearing on the "Scientology Classification, Gradation and Awareness Chart." )...
…, for as long as this paragraph B. of this section VII. applies, as set forth in paragraph F., the full amount of the fixed donation for these services shall be treated as a charitable contribution under Code section 170…

My translation: Until the year 2000, the IRS will allow without protest any "fixed donations" for auditing and other courses, to be deducted as charitable contributions. These must be listed on the Scientology Classification, Gradation and Awareness Chart at http://www.whatisscientology.org/html/P ... 181_1.html . One flaw here is that Section 170 requires that the institution getting those tax-deductible donations must be “exclusively religious.” But, on that Chart is “Allergy or Asthma Auditor Rundown Course” which is medical, not religious. Another flaw would be if the Chart changed over the year. Was it fixed in place in 1993? If the Asthma course was added later, does that get tax deductibility, too?
6. Commissions*** are allowed in the Secret Agreement, for a staff or public who persuades someone to take a course. The only duty is, the person receiving the commissions reports them on their taxes. But how can this be "exclusively religious" if the church is making such a profit off the course, that they can pay a commission? Are clerks or accountants properly recording each commission, and reporting it to the IRS so the IRS can match the amount on the salesperson's tax return? How high are these commissions, because it gets very uncharitable if someone is paying for auditing, getting a tax deduction for it, and then a high percentage of the money, rather than "supporting the church" or "helping the community," is going right into someone's pocket. This is highly unspiritual and crass.

Miscavige gained tremendous power within CoS by winning the tax exemption; underlings may hate and fear him but think they'll lose the tax exemption if he is forced out. If CoS loses the tax exemption while Miscavige is in charge, his position is greatly weakened. Especially if he's on trial for assault and battery.

I now accept Probity's claim that we can't easily fight the tax deduction for auditing services, because the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 was too generous about fixed fees for some religious services. Probity recommended instead using the operational test against CoS:

*The Operational Test: Bruce Hopkins, Law of Tax-Exempt Organizations, 8th edition wrote:

4.5 OPERATIONAL TEST
(a) In General
An organization, to qualify as a charitable entity, is regarded as operated exclusively for one or more tax-exempt purposes only if it engages primarily in activities that accomplish one or more of its exempt purposes. The IRS observed that, to satisfy this operational test, the organization's "resources must be devoted to purposes that qualify as exclusively charitable within the meaning of section 501(c)(3) of the Code and the applicable regulations." An organization will not be so regarded if more than an insubstantial part of its activities is not in furtherance of an exempt purpose. An organization is not considered as operated exclusively for one or more exempt purposes if its net earnings inure in whole or in part to the benefit of private shareholders or individuals. An organization can be substantially dominated by its founder without, for that reason alone, failing to satisfy the operational test. A court concluded, however, that an organization cannot qualify for tax exemption where one individual controls all aspects of the organization's operations and "is not checked" by any governing body.

** My CoS Organization Charts lay out the key CoS entities, including those covered by the Secret Agreement: Each entity named in that agreement, like Religious Technology Center, is underlined.. See viewtopic.php?f=9&t=31561 . Narconon which blatantly defrauds, mistreats, and neglects its drug-recovery victims, is only one of the Secret Agreement corps groups failing as a charity.
(also posted at OPERATION SUNSHINE WEEK FTW!!1! (Mar13-19 2011), posting.php?mode=edit&f=166&p=394639

***

IV.E.3. …all commissions … from Scientology-related entities to individual fundraisers are properly reported to the Service by the payor…

[AnonLover]

I now accept Probity's claim that we can't easily fight the tax deduction for auditing services, because the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 was too generous about fixed fees for some religious services. Probity recommended instead using the operational test against CoS:

I agree with ^^This in regards to having to fight the tax deductions head on, on its own merits. The operational test is the best argument to make.

But i also think there are other indirect ways to fight it that might be easier avenues - or rather, get it revoked on a technicality or legal issue so that they have to start over from scratch. This might be approachable one tentacle at a time, iow chip away at getting the tax-exempt status revoked on the smaller shell corporations and slower work up to the mother church entities.

divide and conquer, line up the dominoes, and watch them fall. who's with me?

[probity]

In 1993, a payment was made by the Church of Scientology to the IRS, totaling $12.5 million dollars, substantially less than the IRS had initially demanded. In addition to that one-off payment, Scientology dropped all 2500+ major lawsuits they had filed against the IRS. In exchange for this, the church's tax exemption status was reinstated.

Not entirely true the church's tax exemption was reinstated.

Church of Scientology of California, 1954 – 2004

• The Church of Scientology of California (CSC) forms on 02/18/1954 to accept and adopt the aims, purposes, principles and creed of The Mother Church, “THE CHURCH OF AMERICAN SCIENCE”, of Camden, New Jersey. On 01/02/1957 the Internal Revenue Service exempts CSC from tax.

• The IRS revokes CSC tax-exempt status in 1967 for financial irregularities. CSC refuses to file for-profit income tax returns, instead CPA Greenberg prepares Form 990 returns (as if exempt) for years 1970 - 1972. On 03/28/1978 CSC files suit against the IRS in US Tax Court to challenge the IRS determination of tax deficiency based on filed CSC exempt returns for 1970 - 1972.

• New California corporations are formed to assimilate CSC authority in a reorganization attempt to sidestep mounting legal and tax threats: Church of Scientology International (CSI) 11/18/1981, Religious Technology Center (RTC) 01/01/1982, and Church of Spiritual Technology (CST) 05/28/1982.

• The Church of Scientology Flag Service Organization, Inc. (FSO) incorporates in Florida 05/19/1981. FSO takes over from CSC the Flag Land Base (Mecca of Scientology Gross Income) and severs CSC’s income source. In the UK, CSC assets are transferred to the Church of Scientology Religious Education College Incorporated (Australia). Bridge Publications 02/02/1981 (later Galaxy Press) perpetuate CSC financial fiction that LRH fiction income funds LRH research.

• After six years litigation the tax case between CSC and the IRS comes to a decision before the US Tax Court ("CSC vs. Commissioner of the IRS," No. 3352-78 ). On 09/24/1984 the court issues judgment against CSC, which CSC appeals. On 07/28/1987 the US Court of Appeals ruling in this case ("CSC vs. Commissioner of the IRS," No. 85-7324) upholds the 1984 decision:

“We affirm the Tax Court decision upholding the Commissioner's revocation of the Church of Scientology of California's tax exempt status on the ground that a portion of its income inured to the benefit of L. Ron Hubbard and others...”

• On 07/08/1988 the IRS (citing CSC bad acts) denies tax-exempt status to CST, RTC and CSI and demands for-profit income tax returns for all years since inception. The IRS assigns examiners full-time to audit CSC income tax for years 1967 - 1984. CSC consolidates income of both Scientology UK operations and the clandestine income siphoning to LRH via the Religious Research Foundation (RRF) during the Flagship Apollo era. CSI funds and directs the CSC tax audit legal defense. Weekly OSA INT statistics graph CSC tax liability as income and expense issues undergo examination.

• The US Supreme Court denies Scientologist charitable tax deductions in Hernandez v. Commissioner, 490 U.S. 680 (1989). CSI asserts inconsistent IRS administration in US Tax Court trial April 4-22, 1992 (Garrison v Commissioner).

• The IRS completes the CSC audit by 1993, a half billion dollars with penalty and interest. With both the final CSC tax assessment and the decision in Garrison on the horizon, the IRS abruptly pulls the plug on the CSC assessment, instead enters into the 10/01/1993 closing agreement with David Miscavige. The closing agreement is explicitly silent on the CSC income tax examination. The hot topic of CSC tax liability, which is for years the IRS primary attack target, mysteriously evaporates in a rumor cloud that David Miscavige sanctions covert operations against government officials.

Here are the clear, simple facts:

• The closing agreement does not recognize CSC as tax exempt. CSI pays $12.5 million to the IRS, a suppressive (2½%) percentage of the half billion dollar CSC liability, or hardly enough to cover unreported Social Security taxes on CSC employee wages, wages which are never to appear on a Social Security earning statement despite CSI & IRS joint promises to rectify this omission.

• The State of California, long since agreed to abide by IRS findings, ultimately settles with its Scientology namesake for cents on the California tax dollar.

• Since 1993, CSC files for-profit tax returns ‘under protest’, vows to never give in only to dissolve quietly without sorrow in a 2002 to 2004 filing approved by California Attorney General Bill Lockyer (now California State Treasurer).

• CSI presently touts US tax exemption as proof of church status without mention that Hubbard’s mother church CSC is not US tax exempt but factually was considered by the IRS only a for-profit entity up to final dissolution in 2004.

• Inurement to the benefit of LRH from CSC remains still an established legal fact, resulting in the permanent revocation of CSC tax exemption; inurement to the benefit of David Miscavige from Corporate Scientology is the harbinger of the permanent revocation of Scientology tax exemption.

[probity]

One of the special parts of the tax-exempt status that Scientology enjoys has to do with their exemption for "religious education." This means that any Scientologist can deduct their expenses for Scientology courses, auditing, even all the Hubbard books they buy. They're the only church that has been granted this status.

Scientology Book purchases for courses are held to be deductible by Scientologists as a charitable contribution? That is a dubious claim which I contend to be factually inaccurate.

The claim that Scientology is the only church that has been granted status to deduct "religious education" as a contribution is not supported by the facts in the Sklar case.

The Sklar case concerns a 1995 deduction of the religious portion of tuition paid to a religious school, which Sklar claims to be the equivalent of a donation for Scientology training at a Scientology church. The court held tuition payments made to schools that in part provide secular educational services are not the same as donations to exclusively religious organizations.

On Aug. 10, 1993, President Clinton signed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 (the "1993 Act"). Beginning in 1994, charitable contribution deductions of $250 or more will be denied when the taxpayer has not received a contemporaneous written acknowledgement from the charity indicating the donation was for an 'intangible religious benefit'.

What was Sklar's excuse for the school not producing the substantiation required under the 1993 Act?

Sklar states: [the] “IRS’ position that religious education (other than for members of the Church of Scientology) is not an 'intangible religious benefit', and that no portion of any religious school tuition (outside the Church of Scientology) is deductible, is very well known among religious schools.”

This contrived excuse for not following the law failed to impress the court. By contrast, the CoS issued detailed policy letters to enforce compliance to the 1993 Act.

In the Sklar case, the tuition was paid to a religious school providing religious instruction as well secular education. The court found that Sklar failed to establish the total amount paid for his children’s education exceeded the value of the secular portion of that education, thus there was no proof of donation for the intangible religious benefit. The reality of this case is that Skalr is a CPA who thought he figured out a way to write off private education for his children.

Payments for Scientology training (whether paid for an adult or child) are deductible when paid to a Scientology Church. Only those courses listed the Scientology “Bridge to Total Freedom” qualify for a charitable donation. The same training, delivered by an individual practitioner of Scientology (or at a school), would not qualify as a charitable contribution.

If Sklar donated to his synagogue specifically to support religious education in which his children participated, it would in all likelihood be just as deductible as a donation for Scientology training. If Sklar were a Methodist whose children attended Sunday School, his donations to the church to support this educational activity would also be deductible.

The claim of special privileges afforded to Scientology and not other legitimate religions is unsupportable as a blanket assertion. For all legitimate (and some less than legitimate) religions, donations to their respective house of worship (such as churches or synagogues, but not religious schools) for services which confer an intangible religious benefit are deductible under the 1993 Act.

[AnonLover]

Thanks for feedback Probity! The text your quoting & clarifying from taxthecult.com wasnt my original work, but when i get a chance I'll flow back changes to the webmaster for updating/fixing the weak spots you pointed out.