Lawmakers Call For Review of IRS Activities Involving Religious Groups

Three members of Congress have requested a federal investigation into news reports that the Internal Revenue Service conducts reviews of churches and other places of worship based on the content of sermons or other discourse delivered as part of religious services or gatherings.

"While the federal tax code prohibits tax-exempt organizations, including churches, from intervening in political campaigns and elections, we believe the faith community has every right to express itself in the political process and be heard," said the members of the House of Representatives in a letter to the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.

"Indeed, we are concerned that such actions by the IRS may be unsupported by the law," wrote Adam B. Schiff, a California Democrat; Walter B. Jones, a North Carolina Republican; and Joseph R. Pitts, a Pennsylvania Republican.

The representatives noted that the most recent example of an IRS church review involves an Episcopal church in California. The tax agency warned All Saints Church in Pasadena that an antiwar sermon by a former rector, delivered the Sunday before last year's presidential campaign, may have constituted improper intervention in the campaign (The Chronicle, November 24).

Such investigations by the IRS "will have a potentially chilling impact on protected First Amendment rights," said the representatives. "We believe a probe of this matter is of the utmost importance to policymakers in Congress, leaders of tax-exempt religious organizations, our constituents, and the American public as a whole."

The lawmakers asked the Government Accountability Office to include in its report:

• Details of IRS inquiries of tax-exempt organizations that allege political campaign activity that the revenue service has initiated in the past five years, "including a detailed account of the allegedly objectionable content or acts."
• An analysis of the "genesis or source" of each IRS review.
• An analysis of the resolution of each inquiry, "including a determination of whether such tax-exempt organizations admitted wrongdoing in order to settle the matter with the IRS."

The members of Congress asked the GAO to investigate quickly, provide interim reports on its progress, and write a final report "as expeditiously as practicable."