Tag Archives: IRS

Leah Remini and her Troublemakers, Part 21

Posted on August 15, 2017 by | 15 comments

 

15 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , ,

Going Clear Movie, Part 8 – Anti Scientology Advocacy

Posted on August 6, 2017 by | 11 comments

Going Clear Movie Part 8,  Advocating for Headleys and IRS revocation

Transcript

Wright and Gibney Advocate (not report) on Headley case and IRS

Headley Lawsuit

Mark Rathbun:  So, then at 1:14:30 they have Wright segue way back to the FBI his accusations of human trafficking and the Headley case. And again, it is advocacy.  The Headleys (Marc and Clare) brought a lawsuit for human trafficking against Scientology. And the FBI was flanking it with an investigation. So, Wright says ‘well, the courts found that what the Headley’s alleged was constitutionally protected, and therefore the FBI  had dropped what they were doing.’

Wright and Gibney Advocate for tax exemption revocation

Therefore, if you are listening to this narrative you are thinking, (see Going Clear Movie, Part 7) “oh my God! All the more reason to revoke Scientology’s tax exemption; because obviously all the First Amendment protection is hinged on the IRS granting exemption. You see? The whole thing is advocacy. But problem with the advocacy is – the fact that people miss – if you read the Court of Appeals decision in the Headley case – year, there were First Amendment problems but they didn’t even need to get to the First Amendment problem because there were factual problems. There was no evidence of human trafficking or anything resembling human trafficking.  They found there was no evidence of imprisonment or anything resembling imprisonment. They found the Headleys on their free will had every opportunity to leave if they didn’t like what they were doing; they had fifteen years.  So, even though there were First Amendment elements in the decision, there were no facts. So he makes it look like the facts were all there and they proved false imprisonment and human trafficking. “But, the thorny First Amendment got in the way,” which he has already told us is only there because the IRS ‘made the decision that Scientology is a religion’, which they never made (see Going Clear Movie, Part 7). 

See, we’ve got a real big fiction being created here. But, that is why I call it propaganda because it is al geared towards communicating that ‘we need to get the IRS to put these guys into a big world of hurt financially by revoking their exemption. 

11 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , ,

Going Clear, Part 13 Lawrence Wright’s actual malice re IRS

Posted on June 15, 2017 by | Comments Off on Going Clear, Part 13 Lawrence Wright’s actual malice re IRS

Going Clear, Part 13 summary:

Rathbun details the two years of ‘living hell’ the IRS put the Church of Scientology through before deciding there was no remaining grounds by which they could deny it tax exemption.  The IRS thoroughly examined every entity even marginally related to the church, including examining ten years of Founder L. Ron Hubbard’s taxes long after his death, including settlement of his estate.  It was only after the IRS exhausted every lead through all of the books and activities of every entity that they concluded, “Ok, they’re all exempt.”  It wasn’t that the church asked for or demanded every entity receive exemption; it was that the IRS insisted upon examining them.  Wright was informed of all this. Not only did he not report it, he wondered aloud in his book how it was that the IRS ‘caved’ to the church’s alleged demand for across the board exemptions.  Per Rathbun, Wright “never let the facts get in the way of his narrative.”  Wright asserts it was odd the IRS granted exemption when the “courts had repeatedly ruled in its favor” against Scientology. In fact, Rathbun shared dozens of more then-recent decisions the church had been racking up against the IRS, decisions that put the IRS in an legally untenable position should it not afford Scientology a full consideration for exemption for the many years which had yet to be adjudicated.  Rathbun details some of those decisions. None of it was mentioned in Wright’s book to maintain the fiction there was something untoward about the IRS’s 1993 tax exemption recognition of Scientology churches.  Clearly, Wright was setting up an “authoritative” book to use for the purpose of attempting to have Scientology’s tax exemption removed. That later proved to be the case when Wright, his film Director Alex Gibney, and paid witness Mike Rinder strenuously campaigned to have exactly that done – on the basis of the book Going Clear and its movie adaptation.  “I went through all of this with Wright, all of it, for many hours, including many follow up phone calls.”  None of it made it in the book.

Comments Off on Going Clear, Part 13 Lawrence Wright’s actual malice re IRS

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , ,

Going Clear, Part 12 – IRS and religion invention

Posted on June 15, 2017 by | Comments Off on Going Clear, Part 12 – IRS and religion invention

Going Clear, Part 12 summary

Wright invents the ‘fact’ that the IRS in 1992 settlement negotiations was making a determination of whether or not Scientology was a religion, a task he adjudicates the IRS was ‘ill-equipped’ to do.  Rathbun, recounts how he had explicitly, long prior to publication, demonstrated to Wright that his was not only not the case, but could not be the case.  Scientology had won that determination in court in 1967, after years of the IRS attempting to challenge it.  Since then, Rathbun told Wright, dozens of courts had reconfirmed that finding. It was such settled law that even the IRS wanted to make such an adjudication in 1992 they were powerless to do so.  Yet, Wright alleges the “unqualified” IRS set out to do so in 1982.

Comments Off on Going Clear, Part 12 – IRS and religion invention

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , ,

Going Clear, Part 11- IRS, fraudulent deceptions

Posted on June 14, 2017 by | Comments Off on Going Clear, Part 11- IRS, fraudulent deceptions

Going Clear, Part 11 summary

Wrights weaves an invention-laden narrative that is false in sum and substance about Scientology’s history vis a vis the Internal Revenue service.  Wright literally invents the origin of the problem with the IRS – an event that Rathbun demonstrates never occurred and could not have occurred. Wright lies about the Church’s alleged IRS liabilities.  Based on these two inventions Wright dramatically concludes “The Founder had placed Scientology’s head on the executioner’s block.”  Rathbun notes, “he literally invented two statements and then from them invented a conclusion.”  Wright was informed that his misinformation that the church investigated the private lives of IRS agents was false, yet he published it anyway – with no source. His only source said it didn’t happen and he published it anyway.  Rathbun details a dozen facts that Wright was informed were incorrect, yet Wright published anyway.

Comments Off on Going Clear, Part 11- IRS, fraudulent deceptions

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , ,