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Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

May 14, 2023 By Mike Rinder 21 Comments

  Aaron Smith-Levin just pointed out to me that scientology has a blogsite that is mikerinderblog.org, apparently hoping to capture people who make a typo in inputting my url. They have my name in big bold letters, right at the top. I am not sure if it because I so often go to my blog site, but the search engine put up a notification asking me if I actually meant to go to my real blog which I found amusing. The content is pretty ironic. Aaron Smith-Levin did a YouTube video with Alex Stein and because Stein is a "holocaust denier" it "raises serious concerns." Of course it … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Fair Game Tagged With: Alex Stein, Danny Masteron, Leah Remini, paul haggis, Tax exempt status, Tony Muhammad

How to Contact Elected Representatives

May 2, 2023 By Mike Rinder 15 Comments

These are some words of wisdom from a viewer who noticed the discussion of contacting elected officials on one of our YouTube live chats. This person didn't ask for this to be published, so I have hidden personal identifying details in case it might be a problem in some way.   I saw a question in the group live chat re: contacting elected officials (specifically asking for a template they could use) and I thought I could be helpful and explain why that is a VERY bad idea....while offering some tips on what actually works. About me: I was a political communications strategist for … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Tax Exemption Tagged With: Congress, elected officials, Tax exempt status, Tax Exemption

Scientology Refunds and Repayments: We Don’t Do That Any More

October 31, 2022 By Mike Rinder 18 Comments

  Recently, a letter from the "Claims Verification Board" came to my attention. In it they state: "It has always been church policy that anyone requesting a refund/repayment must do so within 3 months" -- so of course, they denied the request for return of funds (as they ALWAYS do). This is NOT in fact even what "church policy" says. Let's go through what L. Ron Hubbard said "church policy" is with respect to giving dissatisfied customers their money back (remember, the entire Victorian Inquiry came about because Hubbard refused to return a small amount of money to one … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Fundraising Tagged With: Claims Verification Board, irs, L. Ron Hubbard, refunds, repayments, Tax exempt status

Scientology, Christianity and the IRS

September 19, 2021 By Mike Rinder 35 Comments

Reiterating something I have covered before on this Sunday morning. The idea that you can be a scientologist and a Christian is a lie, yet scientologists claim this all the time to try to appear "normal" or "non-threatening." You can see from the official IRS publication above listing the criteria the IRS uses to determine whether an organization qualifies for tax exempt status as a religious organization, that one of them is: Membership not associated with any other church or denomination   During the quest to obtain exemption, scientology explained things to the IRS like … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Tax Exemption Tagged With: Aar9on Smith-Levin, Christianity, Churches defined, irs, Joy Villa, L. Ron Hubbard, Ray Cassano, Tax exempt status

Episode 41: Law Review Author Taylor Holley

May 17, 2021 By Mike Rinder 36 Comments

Leah and I had the great pleasure of speaking to Taylor Holley this week. Taylor is a law student at Texas Tech University who published a legal analysis of scientology's tax exempt status in the Law Review. Taylor has never been involved in scientology, but grew up in Tampa which sparked her interest in scientology. Her paper is a wonderful summation and careful analysis of the law and makes a compelling argument that the IRS should revisit the exempt status of scientology. I wrote about this earlier. I am including her full paper below, as well as a link to it for downloading. I … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Podcast Tagged With: Ciongress, Fair Game Podcast, irs, Law Review, Leah Remini, Mike Rinder, public policy, Tax exempt status, Taylor Holley, Texas Tech

Australian Media Again Leading the Way

April 7, 2021 By Mike Rinder 25 Comments

You have to hand it to the Australian media -- they are, as a whole, less cowed by scientology than in any other country. We have watched for years as Bryan Seymour and Steve Cannane have done numerous stories exposing scientology's abuses. And there have been others too. And now Ben Schneiders  has joined the party, and is making a big splash. In the past week he has published an explosive report about scientology finances and follow up stories detailing how this is now ballooning into a demand from at least one member of the Australian Parliament, Andrew Leigh, for an investigation of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Tax Exemption Tagged With: ABC, Andrew Leigh, ben schneiders, bryan seymour, Charities and Not For Profits Commission, irs, Steve Cannane, Sydney Morning Herald, Tax exempt status, The Age

Auditing Scientology: Reexamining Tax Exemption Eligibility

February 17, 2021 By Mike Rinder 57 Comments

IRS exemption scientology

One of our commenters (ISNOINews) forward me a link to a wonderful piece by Taylor Holley, a Juris Doctorate candidate at Texas Tech University Law School written for the Law Review. It is titled  Auditing Scientology: Reexamining the Church's 501(c)3 Tax Exemption Eligibility. If you click on the link above, you can download the full paper -- it is 27 pages long and summarizes all the facts and legal arguments as to why scientology should NOT enjoy tax exempt status. Below I include her abstract summarizing the paper: Abstract The Church of Scientology is one of the most discussed … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Special Feature Tagged With: 501(c)3, irs, Law Review, Scientology, scientology tax exemption, Tax exempt status, Tax Exemption, Taylor Holley, Texas Tech

Is Scientology an Investment?

January 16, 2021 By Mike Rinder 32 Comments

Old Wil Seabrook is at it again. These STAND flunkies are entirely predictable. Anything that is a touchy subject for scientology (in this case, their merciless money-grubbing) is taken up and presented as if it's a GOOD thing. Let's just dissect a few of Wil's statements. One thing that people ask me is why Scientologists make donations for their services. I think there’s an idea that help, especially of a religious nature, should be free. But once you start to examine that concept, it’s easy to see that nothing in life is ever actually free and that resources are required to do … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Fundraising Tagged With: David Miscavige, fundraising, IAS, irs, STAND League, Tax exempt status, Wil Seabrook

Uncle Sam Wants to Help Scientology

November 15, 2020 By Mike Rinder 48 Comments

Every year, scientology rolls out the posters about how the US Government is making it especially easy to give more money to scientology. Unfortunately, this is one of the only true things they ever say. And one of the most galling. The entire US Government is certainly not on the side of scientology. There are many government agencies that do not agree with scientology even being recognized as a tax exempt religious organization, but unfortunately, the most important one, the IRS, seems to be in the minority. Though truth be told, I suspect there are plenty of people in the IRS who … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Fundraising, Tax Exemption Tagged With: fundraising, irs, Scientology, Tax exempt status

Kanye, the IRS and Scientology

December 8, 2019 By Mike Rinder 23 Comments

  This is an interesting recent Forbes magazine article. The author covers how Kanye West, who has changed his name to Christian Genius Billionaire Kanye West and conducts "Sunday Services,” could actually file for tax exemption and reap mighty benefits. He describes what the IRS criteria are for granting such a religious exemption: Distinct legal existence; Recognized creed and form of worship; Definite and distinct ecclesiastical government; Formal code of doctrine and discipline; Distinct religious history; Membership not associated with any other church … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Tax Exemption Tagged With: Church of Scientology, Forbes magazine, irs, Kanye West, Tax exempt status, Tax Exemption

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Important Reading

Troublemaker - Leah Remini
Ruthless - Ron Miscavige
Going Clear - Lawrence Wright
Bare Faced Messiah - Russell Miller
Counterfeit Dreams - Jeff Hawkins
Blown For Good - Marc Headley
Abuse at the Top - Amy Scobee
Unbreakable Miss Lovely - Tony Ortega
The Church of Fear - John Sweeney
Fair Game - Steve Cannane
Inside Scientology - Janet Reitman
A Piece of Blue Sky - Jon Atack
Beyond Belief - Jenna Miscavige
My Billion Year Contract
Escaping Scientology - Karen Schless
Commodore's Messenger - Janis Grady
Commodore's Messenger - Book II
Scythe Tleppo - Nathan Rich
Expert Witness - Jesse Prince
Perfectly Clear - Michelle LeCaire
Ron the War Hero - Chris Owen
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