Suggested Outline for Petition on Scientology's Tax Status I posted this earlier within a thread, but I think it needs its own header. The Petition should be organized with a structure similar to this (do your due diligence to add to and verify these facts, as this is coming from memory). I. Brief Introduction, Request, and One Sentence summary of why it should be granted II. Scientology Receives Benefits That Are Not Afforded to Other Religions (go into the special privileges it receives that other faiths do not). III. Scientology Was Granted These Privileges Under Suspicious Circumstances. a. Protracted litigation with IRS b. Possible use of private investigators against IRS agents in their personal capacity c. Timing of settlement was suspect given that IRS had just won in the Supreme Court against Scientology - seems to have been granted more out of the personal interests of individual IRS officers as opposed to any official government interest d. Settlement was agreed to outside usual IRS procedure e. The Settlement's terms were not in the United States' Interest 1. Settlement was confidential and released to the public for several years 2. The degree of payment that Scientology had to pay under the settlement was significantly less than what it owed 3. The IRS was required under the settlement to distribute Scientology material to other nations. IV. Scientology Does Not, In Fact Deserve These Privileges a. Before the IRS Settlement, Courts repeatedly rejected Scientology's theory that it was entitled to a religious exemption (cite the cases [including supreme court opinion] and relevant language b. Scientology behaves more like a business than a religion and should therefore be treated as one (copyrighted material, for profit motivation, interlocking shell corporations, etc - but due your due diligence here) c. Scientology does not behave as a religious organization entitled to an exemption should behave (cite Operation Snow White, the fact that Fair Game is not truly repealed, frivolous lawsuits, harassment of critics). V. Summary, Conclusion and a repeat of the request.
