Court Opinion

ID: 9477955
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 06:35:52.007538+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:46:08.735897
License: Public Domain

WELLFORD, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I concur in Judge Jones’ well reasoned opinion, and write briefly only to emphasize *858two factors that seem particularly important in this decision. First, the government itself, for whatever reasons, has conceded for purposes of this case (and the others similarly situated) that the Church of Scientology is a “church,” a tax exempt organization. At the same time, in other proceedings noted by Judge Jones in his opinion, the government has expressly challenged the Church of Scientology’s tax exempt status, and, in fact, has successfully revocated its tax exemption. (Church of Scientology of California v. Commissioner, 83 T.C. 381 (1984), aff'd 823 F.2d 1310 (9th Cir.1987)). Our decision then applies in this limited and specific situation where the government has waived or relinquished here any challenge to the tax exempt status of the Church in question and the commercial nature of its operation. It seems to me that the proper avenue of challenge by the government is to the tax exemption claimed by this organization which seems to possess more characteristics of commercial activity than of spiritual concerns usually associated with a church or a religion. (One is struck by its emphasis, for example, on “auditing” and on the doctrine of “exchange.”)
I am further persuaded by the rationale of Staples and those other courts and judges that have followed the reasoning of the Eighth Circuit therein, and the emphasis on no “recognizable return benefit under section 170” where the government has initially conceded that the practices and “contributions” in question are “religious practices” in a bona fide church.
I would therefore concur in the reversal of the Tax Court’s decision.