Last week, the Legislative Department submitted comments to the Commission on Accountability and Policy for Religious Organizations.  The Commission is led by the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) and is soliciting public input on 17 tax issues related to religious organizations that were raised in Sen. Charles Grassley’s (R-IA) 2011 report to ECFA.  AU weighed in on three of these topics (which were limited to responses of only 1,000 characters each).

First, we stated our opposition to the proposed formation of an IRS-sponsored advisory committee comprised only of representatives of religious entities.  Such a committee is unnecessary, as the IRS already sponsors the Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities (ACT), which gives voice to all non-profit organizations (including religious groups) on taxation issues.  Secondly, the formation of the committee would unconstitutionally favor religion over non-religion and grant special privilege to these groups.

Our second set of comments refutes proposals to adjust criteria for determining whether to investigate a religious group for potential IRS violations.  We argued that having the religious advisory committee assist in setting these criteria or looking to whether an organization is subject to oversight by the ECFA or another third party organization would be an impermissible joint exercise of religion and government authority.  The IRS should not (and constitutionally, cannot) cede its oversight authority to a religious entity with no accountability to the taxpayers or obligation to enforce the law.

Finally, we unequivocally stated that the ban on church politicking should remain in place and unmodified.  The prohibition prevents tax deductible charitable donations from being used to support political candidates, and allows houses of worship to choose between tax exempt status and engaging in electioneering.  For the good of the public and the churches themselves, however, they are not permitted to have it both ways.

We hope the Commission takes our statements into account and advises the IRS fairly on these matters.