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Advocacy Blog
Friday, December 08, 2006
New Means to Enforce Church Politics
Attorneys Marcus S. Owens and Natalie E. Fay wrote an article titled, "Penalizing Instigators of Political Campaign Intervention." The authors suggest that in light of increased attention on IRS audits of tax-exempt groups who have engaged in campaign intervention, the IRS should redirect enforcement measures to the candidates who in fact encourage the misuse, particularly of churches. Owens and Fay describe how candidates entice a church's involvement through various examples, such as candidates who have openly included churches in their campaign strategy, leaving the churches vulnerable. Candidates are therefore benefiting from the work of a church or perhaps an appearance, but the church is violating tax-exempt laws and may or may not be investigated. Bob Bauer has written this in-depth blog entry on their article.
Politicians—such as those who press churches for appearances before their congregations—are inducing the prohibited political intervention and should also be called to account. Owens and Faye propose the use of a provision, Section 6700, that imposes penalties on any person—in this instance the politician—who "cause[s]" another to make false or fraudulent tax statements. "It is only fair," they write, "that the people who benefit from the proscribed activities be held accountable for their actions."
Posted by Amanda Adams
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