An op-ed in yesterday's USA Today "Turning a blind eye, IRS enables church politicking" disapproves of the way the IRS is handling a supposedly growing number of churches that do not comply with the ban on endorsing candidates or political parties. The article notes that 40 churches were investigated for activity during the 2004 election season and not one had its tax-exempt status revoked.

Instead, the IRS wrote advisories, warning citations that carry no punishment, or assessed excise taxes, the equivalent of light fines, on those churches. The IRS justifies this slap-on-the-wrist approach by claiming that it wants to bring churches into compliance with IRS rules rather than punish them.

Or, perhaps the IRS is indirectly allowing such behavior through inadequate guidance and enforcement, which this op-ed fails to consider. As OMB Watch has recommended; "Concrete guidance, bright line rules defining partisan intervention, and/or safe harbors should be considered so that charities can know what is and is not allowed."

The USA Today article lists churches that are currently under investigation. This includes the well-known All Saints Church in Pasadena California, which according to the author, should not be worried about losing its tax-exempt status based off of previous cases. However, a blog post from the Center for Competitive Politics (CCP) responded to that point.

All Saints has been incurring legal bills in connection with this investigation since 2004. And thanks to the hopelessly abstruse "facts and circumstances test" used by the IRS to evaluate political intervention, it is unlikely that the conclusion of the investigation will leave All Saints with any better idea of how to avoid investigation in the future, other than to avoid all discussion of political issues.

This blog post from moresoftmoneyhardlaw.com responds to both the CCP post and the USA Today article.