The New Gay » Revoke Mormon Church’s Tax Exemption?

Revoke Mormon Church’s Tax Exemption?

11 November 2008, 2:10 pm 10 Comments

This post is part of our ongoing discussion on Proposition 8. The author, “Clearlyhere,” is a suburban gay proudly hailing from the newly blue state of Virginia.

There is a movement to get the Mormon Church stripped of its tax exempt status due to its extensive lobbying for Proposition 8 in California. Those interested in helping can sign a petition at “Mormons Stole our Rights” or send a complaint form to the IRS at Revoke LDS Church tax exempt status.

There is a solid case to make that the Mormon Church engaged in an excessive lobbying campaign donating millions of dollars to promote Proposition 8. Churches are not allowed to lobby or express political opinions and retain their 501(c)3 status as tax exempt.

The Mormon Church is particularly ruthless when it comes to exacting a tithe from their members. All good-standing Mormons must submit their tax returns to the Mormon authorities and they must pay 10% of their income to remain in good standing. I’ve known Mormons who were pursued by the church authorities for their tithe even after they have left the church. The amount of money that their church collects is extreme. Think of every Mormon business man (Mitt Romney, the Marriots) giving at least 10% of their income and think of it funneling into the hateful ads that they funded for Proposition 8.

Legally, the IRS must register your complaint and must look into it if they receive enough complaints. With Bush out the White House, you can be sure that the shenanigans that have crippled the credibility of the Justice Department will not happen at the IRS. It is a political mine field to repeal such a right wing denomination and it would be detrimental to the Democratic party if was repealed. But it won’t be. For the cause, I guarantee that their status wouldn’t be changed, but they could be significantly chastised so they would never overstep their boundaries for the foreseeable future. Make the Mormons spend money on lawyers and face political consequences.

I think of this as a fight to uphold what the founders of the United States stood for: Church and state are separate and we all have the right to practice any religion we want to. It is the basic premise that is used with gay marriage. We want civil marriage not the sacrament of marriage from the Mormon or Catholic or whatever church. We want the government to recognize our civil rights and the Mormon Church shouldn’t have anything to do with it.

So do it. Speak out against Mormon hate, and make your friends do it too. Proposition 8 may still be overturned, maybe in two years, hopefully sometime in the next ten. If gay marriage is an issue that you care about (and every homo should), do something. I donated to No on Proposition 8, I made my friend do so too. I signed the petition, I sent in a form to the IRS, and I am telling as many people as I can to file a complaint with the IRS.

What are you doing for the cause?

10 Comments »

Anonymous said:

Thank you for providing the IRS form link. Mine is completed, printed, and will be mailed tomorrow!

11 November 2008 at 3:13 pm

Andrew Pendleton said:

This post seems to reflect a common misconception about Mormons and prop 8. Tithing funds didn’t pay for Yes on 8. The church, itself, gave little or no money directly to the campaign. Rather, it encouraged its members to donate directly. For that reason, the tax law case is much harder to make than you suggest.

11 November 2008 at 3:14 pm

Anonymous said:

Did you hear there was a memo sent to all Mormons churches tell them to encourage all members to donate for Yes on Prop 8?

11 November 2008 at 3:34 pm

Daniel said:

Also, did not the Supreme Court made the case was money donated to political campaigns equal free speech? Free speech, Political speech, Religious speech. On a law textbook you can make the case that they are different, but how do you work that out in real life?

Even if the church sent a letter encouraging its members to donate, it wouldn’t cross the line into political speech. After all, marriage is a sacrament and taking a position on Prop. 8, negative or positive, is what you would expect a church to do. One could say that the LDS church coerced its members, but that would be a bitch to argue in court.

I think tangible proof would have to be found of using church funds themselves. So, like with Capone, we need to get the accountant.

11 November 2008 at 3:51 pm

Andrew Pendleton said:

Such a letter does exist and is available on the church’s website. The church is worth a pile of money, though, and didn’t get that way by being stupid… they’re exceptionally shrewd about what they say, and about what they do with their money. Speech endorsing a *candidate* is problematic for them, and jeopardizes their tax-exempt status, but lobbying (into which this is lumped) is more nebulously defined in tax law, and odds are, they haven’t done anything wrong, at least from a legal perspective. We can sign petitions, but the IRS has pretty broad latitude in deciding what it investigates… further, even if some law or rule obligates them to pursue allegations (which, frankly, I doubt, though I’d have to investigate further), I don’t think individuals whose complaints were ignored would have any remedy. Tax disputes are between the taxed (or non-taxed, as the case may be) individual or organization and the IRS. Third parties have no standing to being legal action.

11 November 2008 at 5:53 pm

Kirk said:

Although I completely disagree with the Mormon Church for their actions, I don’t understand what good this will do.

If taxed, they will just find another way to make up the money, perhaps by increasing tithes.

I feel like we are branding this church as an enemy, just like they have done to us.

This fight won’t be one by taxing and intimidating Mormons. We won’t find victory by lighting torches and smashing windows.

It can only be won through understanding. The people who said yes on Propostion 8 or who oppose gay marriage in any other state have yet to grasp that rights are being infringed.

They will continue to believe we are second class citizens if we attack or provoke. Now more than ever, we need them to see we are humans deserving of these rights.

11 November 2008 at 6:36 pm

John said:

I would also point out that one of the key claims of the Yes campaign was that allowing gays access to marriage would somehow jeopardize the tax exempt status of churches that refused to marry gay couples. So, while I appreciate the effort here (fuck the Mormon church), we should be very careful that we don’t provide fodder for what was a bogus claim in the campaign. Going after churches’ tax exempt status thus both a) is unlikely to work, and b) may provoke an even stronger backlash because we’re doing exactly what the Yes campaign said we would do.

11 November 2008 at 9:02 pm

Steven said:

It wasn’t the Mormon church that voted to take away your marriage rights. It was the state of California. Boycott California.

12 November 2008 at 1:27 pm

Allison said:

In general:
Let’s stop trying to figure out who to blame for the passage of prop 8. There is no one group that we can point the finger at and say, you made this happen.

It happened, and it happened because individual people decided, whatever their reasons, that they wanted to curtail the rights of same-sex couples to marry.

The only way to reach individual people is to actually reach out to them individually, not going after their churches.

You want to change someone’s opinion? Live openly and talk about it.

13 November 2008 at 4:09 am

Anonymous said:

I just wanted to clarify a few things you mentioned in your post. I’ve been Mormon my whole life and have attended “tithing settlement” annually with my bishop (the leader of the congregation). At this settlement you sit with the bishop and declare whether you are a full tithe payer or not. No documents are required. They do not look at your tax return. It is a completely trust-based system. You either say you are a full tithe payer or say you aren’t. That’s it.

Those that have left the church are not “pursued” after they have left in order to get their tithing. In fact, active members are not pursued. There are many, many members of the Mormon church who do not pay tithing, or only pay a partial tithe.

Also, I don’t believe that the Mormon church used any of its tithing funds to support the Yes on 8 campaign. I’m not 100% on this, because I have been unable to find an official statement, but from what I’ve been able to gather from those I know in California, the Mormon church encouraged its members from the pulpit (a letter from the president of the church was read) to support the Yes on 8 campaign in whatever way they could. Mormons, being a very obedient people, then freely gave of their time and money to the campaign. The money they gave was directly to the Yes on 8 campaign, and was completely separate from tithing.

13 November 2008 at 9:20 pm