The thing is, they already dare the IRS. The IRS just doesn’t go after them. Probably because they’d (churches) turn it into a shitstorm in the media, but I don’t know the reality for the lack of motivation.
I remember I did look into it years ago and at one point there was a fairly legitimate reason.
The decision to enforce revoking tax exemption was directly assigned to a specific position according to law, but various changes to the IRS structure had removed and combined positions. So the position the law specifically says must make that determination, didn’t exist anymore.
It probably could be argued in court that the other powers of that position were moved to another position and clearly that power should as well, it was just an oversight, but that would rely on the courts and common sense rather than the law as written.
I’m 99% sure this was fixed years ago in one of the various changes to the tax code, but at one point the law as written meant no one could revoke exemptions.
The thing is, they already dare the IRS. The IRS just doesn’t go after them. Probably because they’d (churches) turn it into a shitstorm in the media, but I don’t know the reality for the lack of motivation.
I remember I did look into it years ago and at one point there was a fairly legitimate reason.
The decision to enforce revoking tax exemption was directly assigned to a specific position according to law, but various changes to the IRS structure had removed and combined positions. So the position the law specifically says must make that determination, didn’t exist anymore.
It probably could be argued in court that the other powers of that position were moved to another position and clearly that power should as well, it was just an oversight, but that would rely on the courts and common sense rather than the law as written.
I’m 99% sure this was fixed years ago in one of the various changes to the tax code, but at one point the law as written meant no one could revoke exemptions.