http://www.talk2action.org/story/2010/2/23/1325/87267/Front_Page/Street_Fight_Ohio_Clergy_Seeks_End_Of_Tax_Exemption_For_D_C_Structure_Owned_By_The_Family_The infamous "C Street house" is back in the news.
A group of clergy in Ohio, aided by a tax lawyer, has written to the Internal Revenue Service today asking the federal tax agency to examine the house's tax-exempt status as a church.
If you're just joining us, the C Street house is a structure in Washington, D.C., owned by a shadowy Religious Right group called "The Family" - a.k.a. the Fellowship Foundation.
The house, formally called the C Street Center, is located near the U.S. Capitol on C Street S.E. Due to the Family's penchant for secrecy, it's unclear what exactly goes on there. We do know that some rooms are rented out to members of Congress at a low rate, and it has been reported that Bible study and prayer meetings occur - but that hardly makes the place a church.
It would be more accurate to say that the C Street Center is a boarding house (or, in light of the recent string of sex scandals involving some of its residents, a frat house). So why does it hold a tax exemption as a church?
That's what the Ohio clergy would like to know. In their letter to the IRS (which was drafted by Marcus Owens, a former IRS official), the members of Clergy Voice assert that the C Street house is "an exclusive club for powerful officials...masquerading as a church."
The house, the clergy say, meets none of the tests the IRS has set forth to determine when a religious group qualifies for tax exemption.
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