The IRS Scandal, Day 1130

The Surly Subgroup:  Tying the IRS’s Hands. Even Tighter, by Sam Brunson (Loyola-Chicago):

Yesterday, the House Committee on Appropriations reported H.R. 2995 to the House of Representatives. H.R. 2995, the Financial Services and General Government Oversight Appropriations Bill  for FY 2017, if passed, would continue the trend of reducing the IRS’s budget, this time by $236 million. ...

I’m interested in an amendment added yesterday by Rep. John Culberson (R-TX). Section 135 of the bill would make it even harder than it already is for the IRS to audit churches. 

The IRS already faces significant limitations on its ability to audit churches. ... The result? Churches are rarely audited, and even more rarely lose their exemptions. While the IRS doesn’t disclose the number of church audits it performs, the ECFA suggests that there may be 100 church audits a year. And how many churches are there in the U.S.? Again, hard to say, but the U.S. Religion Census finds about 345,000 congregations in the U.S. That would be a 0.03% audit rate; even assuming the number of churches is off by a factor of 10, we’re talking a 0.3% audit rate. And I can only find one report of a church losing its exemption for violating the campaigning prohibition (even though thousands of churches have deliberately and explicitly violated it).

That, though, is apparently insufficient for Rep. Culberson, who claims he added his amendment to “protect churches from being bullied by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and left-wing activists whenever a church engages in educational political activity.”

• The IRS Scandal, Day 1129 (June 11, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1128 (June 10, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1127 (June 9, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1126 (June 8, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1125 (June 7, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1124 (June 6, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1123 (June 5, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1122 (June 4, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1121 (June 3, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1020 (June 2, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1119 (June 1, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1118 (May 31, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1117 (May 30, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1116 (May 29, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1115 (May 28, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1114 (May 27, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1113 (May 26, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1112 (May 25, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1111 (May 24, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1110 (May 23, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1109 (May 22, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1108 (May 21, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1107 (May 20, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1106 (May 19, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1105 (May 18, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1104 (May 17, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1103 (May 16, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1102 (May 15, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 1101 (May 14, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 1001-1100 (Feb. 4, 2016 - May 13, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 901-1000 (Oct. 27, 2015 - Feb. 3, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 801-900 (July 19, 2015 - Oct. 26, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 701-800 (April 10, 2015 - July 18, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 601-700 (Dec. 31, 2014 - April 9, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 501-600 (Sept. 22, 2014-Dec. 30, 2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 401-500 (June 14, 2014 - Sept. 21,2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 301-400 (Mar. 6, 2014 - June 13, 2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 201-300 (Nov. 26, 2013 - Mar. 5, 2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 101-200 (Aug. 18, 2013 - Nov. 25, 2013)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 1-100 (May 10, 2013 - Aug. 17, 201