United States Senate inquiry into the tax-exempt status of religious organizations Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Background== On November 5, 2007, [[United States Senator]] [[Chuck Grassley]] announced an investigation into the tax-exempt status of six ministries under the leadership of [[Benny Hinn]], [[Paula White]], [[Eddie L. Long]], [[Joyce Meyer]], [[Creflo Dollar]], and [[Kenneth Copeland]] by the [[United States Senate Committee on Finance]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://media.npr.org/documents/2007/nov/grassley/white.pdf |title=Read Grassley's Letters |publisher=[[National Public Radio]] |date=2007-12-04 |access-date=2007-12-10}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/televangelists-living-like-kings/ |title=Televangelists Living Like Kings? |publisher=[[CBS News]] |date=2007-11-06 |access-date=2007-09-17 |author=Armen Keteyian}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16860611 |title=Senator Probes Megachurches' Finances |publisher=NPR.org |first=Kathy |last=Lohr |date=December 4, 2007 |access-date=December 10, 2007}}</ref> In letters to each ministry, Grassley asked for the ministries to divulge specific financial information to the committee to determine whether or not funds collected by each organization were inappropriately utilized by ministry heads.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/06/cbsnews_investigates/main3462147.shtml |title=Televangelists Living Like Kings? |publisher=CBS News |date=November 6, 2007 |access-date=September 17, 2007}}</ref> By the December 6, 2007 deadline, only three of the ministries had shown compliance with the Finance Committee's request. On March 11, 2008, Grassley and Finance Chairman [[Max Baucus]] sent follow-up letters to Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar and Eddie Long, explaining that the Senate reserved the right to investigate the finances of their organizations under federal tax laws.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pgdc.com/pgdc/grassley-baucus-urge-four-ministries-cooperate |title=Grassley, Baucus Urge Four Ministries to Cooperate |publisher=Planned Giving Design Center |date=March 12, 2008 |access-date=February 4, 2009}}</ref> The Associated Press reported that Grassley said the investigation was a response to complaints from the public and news media. Grassley stated, "The allegations involve governing boards that aren't independent and allow generous salaries and housing allowances and amenities such as private jets and Rolls Royces."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-11-07-televangelist-probe_N.htm |title=Sen. Grassley probes televangelists' finances |publisher=[[The Associated Press]] |date=November 7, 2007 |access-date=2008-07-07}}</ref> IRS guidelines require that pastors' compensation be "reasonable" and net earnings may not benefit any private individual.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.irs.gov/charities/churches/index.html |title=Tax Information for Churches and Religious Organizations|publisher=|access-date=17 October 2014}}</ref> Responses from these Ministers included Constitutional arguments about Congressional power to oversee such matters. They claim that only the IRS has the authority to request such information, and should the IRS request it or pursue an investigation, the ministries involved would gladly comply.{{citation needed|date=September 2015}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page