(NewsReady.com) – Texas lawyers say the IRS is ignoring the Constitution and pursuing religious groups for tax. Worse, they’re showing political as well as religious bias.
Today, Rep. Roy, along with several members of the House and Senate, sent a letter to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig regarding the IRS’s recent flawed and discriminatory denial of the tax-exempt status of Christians Engaged.
More here: https://t.co/hYF5gXtKeI pic.twitter.com/S8Zn2P5Nzq— Rep. Chip Roy Press Office (@RepChipRoy) June 25, 2021
On June 25, Representative Chip Roy (R-TX) wrote to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, protesting at a recent decision to deny tax-exempt status to a Texas nonprofit. Christians Engaged, a Garland, TX-based advocacy group, encourages Christians to be active citizens. It’s a non-partisan group with no party affiliations – but, in denying it tax-exempt status, the IRS made an astonishing claim.
According to the IRS, “Bible teachings are typically affiliated with the [Republican] Party and candidates,” so, by their reckoning, Christians Engaged is a partisan group and is “engaged in prohibited political campaign intervention.” Now a legal group, First Liberty Institute, says the IRS has violated the First Amendment by mischaracterizing the nonprofit as a political organization.
Representative Roy has made the same points in his letter to the IRS, but he’s also worried about a bigger threat. He wrote that, if the IRS applies this argument broadly, it could threaten the tax-exempt status of thousands of churches. If the Bible is “typically affiliated” with the GOP, that justifies a political war on religion – and that never ends well.
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