In a letter dated February 23, members of Clergy VOICE requested that IRS Commissioner Shulman investigate possible tax abuses by the C Street Center in Washington, DC. The C Street Center is classified as a church for federal tax purposes and qualifies as a tax-exempt organization under Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3), and also operates as a housing facility for members of Congress. According to Clergy VOICE, the C Street Center poses a threat "to the integrity and legitimacy of the charitable, organizational, historic, ecclesiastical, and worship activities of all religious organizations." The letter alleges that the C Street Center has no recognized creed or form of worship, no distinct ecclesiastical government, and no formal code or doctrine, is not led by ordained ministers, and its leadership is not selected based on the completion of prescriped studies. Rather, the group alleges that the chief activity of the C Street Center is to serve as a boarding house for members of Congress, and that the silence and secrecy surrounding the organization's operations run against political and legislative accountability. Due to the number of significant questions concerning the tax status of the C Street Center, the clergy members called the IRS to investigate the C Street Center.
See 2010 TNT 36-39.
Posted by Jenny Robertson, Associate Editor, Wealth Strategies Journal.
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