Trump Wants Scientology To Lose Its Tax-Exempt Privileges

#1

Lynne Patton, a friend of the Trump family and official at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), told Remini, a former member but now outspoken critic of Scientology, that Trump wanted to revoke the church’s tax-exempt status, the Huffington Post reported.

This news arrives courtesy of a longtime Trump aide, Lynne Patton, who contacted Remini (via Twitter DM) with Trump’s thoughts.

#2

Patton tweeted to Remini on May 30 to communicate a direct message. Remini responded and offered Patton help, according to tweets obtained from the Huffington Post.

"From The moment I saw your series I told President Trump & his family we needed to revoke their tax exempt status. They couldn’t agree more, but please don’t publicize that yet," Lynne Patton wrote to actress Leah Remini in the messages obtained by HuffPost. “This is going to get done in the next 4 years or I’ll die trying. Knock on wood!”

#3

Patton responded to Remini’s email the next day stating, “I look forward to doing my part to help put an end to this ongoing nightmare and blatant misuse of our IRS rules & regulations. … I want to do more research on Scientology’s history with the IRS, to date, so that I can better understand what tactics have been applied and where we can pick up. Would you have any of this information handy? If not, I will obtain it from the agency directly, Kindly advise!”

#4

According to the IRS website:

“The IRS may begin a church tax inquiry only if an appropriate high-level Treasury official reasonably believes, on the basis of facts and circumstances recorded in writing, that an organization claiming to be a church or convention or association of churches may not qualify for an exemption.”

#5

Larry Noble spoke with HuffPo, Trump or Patton moving on the issue would be a serious misstep:

“For the White House or any administration official to try and influence who the IRS targets, for whatever reason, is wrong and could result in a violation of the law. The IRS must make these decisions independently without any influence by the White House or administration officials.”

#6

The Church of Scientology is a multinational network and hierarchy of numerous ostensibly independent but interconnected. The Church of Scientology promotes Scientology, a body of beliefs and related practices created by Hubbard, starting in 1952 as a successor to his earlier self-help system, Dianetics. The first Scientology church was incorporated in December 1953 in Camden, New Jersey by L. Ron Hubbard, his wife Mary Sue Hubbard, and John Galusha. Hubbard worked hard to get the church tax-exempt but the feat was not accomplished until 1993, years after the leader’s death in 1986, Fortune reported.

#7

The IRS website states that “the IRS may begin a church tax inquiry only if an appropriate high-level Treasury official reasonably believes, on the basis of facts and circumstances recorded in writing, that an organization claiming to be a church or convention or association of churches may not qualify for an exemption.”