Background
In the wake of the Jim Bakker / PTL scandal in the 1980s, news media, politicians, and the public at large demanded greater oversight of religious non-profit organizations. According to an IRS report cited by the Daily Press, IRS agents conducted 34 investigations of religious organizations in 1988. The number of investigations would drop to 20 in 1989.
After Congressman J.J. Pickle, head of the House Oversight Committee, requested quarterly status reports from the IRS for investigations of religious media organizations, Treasury Department Legislative Liaison Gayle G. Morin was tasked with sending updates to Congress. Trinity Foundation obtained three of the status updates.
Documents in this collection
Three IRS Update Letters to Congressman Pickle
October 1992 Letter: “Currently, there are a total of sixteen media evangelists, as well as related entities and individuals, subject to various types of actions. These actions include income tax examinations, examinations concerning exempt status, collection procedures, church tax examinations and criminal actions.”
June 1992 Letter: “Currently, there are a total of seventeen media evangelists on which we are reporting, plus related individuals and organizations which are the subject of various types of actions, including income tax examinations, examinations concerning exempt status, collection procedures, church tax examinations and criminal actions.”
October 1991 Letter: “I an enclosing a chart describing the Service’s actions related to media ministries in the quarter. The chart’s seventeen entries represent sixty corporate or individual taxpayers subject to sixty-four examinations, criminal investigations, or collection actions.”
Due to the 1974 Privacy Act, the chart does not disclose the names of religious organizations being audited or investigated.
Trinity Foundation is pursuing legislative changes to the Privacy Act to increase the amount of information government agencies can release in the public interest. Because of the Privacy Act, federal agencies are prohibited from giving status updates to informants, and cannot reveal if an audit or investigation is being conducted.