After a lengthy investigation following a 2017 raid, Hungarian authorities issued indictments and levied $1.7 million assessment against scientology in Budapest for engaging in a conspiracy to avoid paying tax on income from the sale of books and services. We talk with Peter Bonyai, who has been instrumental in bringing about action against scientology abuses in Hungary. Peter got into Scientology in 1995 right after completing high school. He joined the local mission as a staff member and 2 years later joined the Sea Org at the local liaison/management base in … [Read more...]
A Committee of Evidence Explained on You Tube
Something a little different. It's not often we get to see a scientology "goldenrod" these days. Though this one is from 2010, it is no different than what is produced today, and it is proof that scientologists are NOT allowed to report crimes to authorities. We explain this document and the terminology in our latest YouTube video. Committee of Evidence Policy Letter The "Taylor Holley" blog post about scientology running afoul of the IRS prohibition against violating "public policy." … [Read more...]
How to Contact Elected Representatives
These are some words of wisdom from a viewer who noticed the discussion of contacting elected officials on one of our YouTube live chats. This person didn't ask for this to be published, so I have hidden personal identifying details in case it might be a problem in some way. I saw a question in the group live chat re: contacting elected officials (specifically asking for a template they could use) and I thought I could be helpful and explain why that is a VERY bad idea....while offering some tips on what actually works. About me: I was a political communications strategist for … [Read more...]
Alex Gibney Urges IRS to Revoke Scientology’s Tax Exempt Status
A recent interview with Alex Gibney in Rolling Stone where he was asked the following question, jogged my memory. I had the pleasure of seeing Going Clear at its Sundance premiere, which was pretty wild. Is Scientology still on your case? And I’ve done a lot of reporting on Scientology as well, so what’s it like to see Tom Cruise still be the king of Hollywood? It seems he hasn’t had to answer a single question about this stuff in the eight years since Going Clear. I agree. And I’m kind of surprised. I think he took a step away, so he’s not the kind of ambassador for Scientology tha … [Read more...]
How Many Taxpayer-Subsidized Mansions, Homes and Offices Does A Dead Man Need?
This might seem like a foolish question -- but not when it come to L. Ron Hubbard. He apparently needs a whole lot of homes and even more offices... It is one of the lesser-known bizarre facts about scientology and the worship of L. Ron Hubbard that subsequent to his death (or in the words of David Miscavige he "discarded the body... he had used to facilitate his existence in this MEST universe," because it "had ceased to be useful and in fact had become an impediment to the work he now must do outside of its confines”), many fully furnished mansions and lavish homes were co … [Read more...]
Revoke Scientology’s Tax Exempt Status Immediately
This was originally posted under the title: Auditing Scientology: Reexamining Tax Exemption Eligibility which was the title of the article written by Taylor Holley. I believe the ongoing public policy violations alone should be the immediate end of scientology's tax exempt status. Taylor points out how "Public Policy" has been narrowly interpreted to mean discrimination, but this is not what the intent of this regulation is. Spending tax exempt money to spy on people, smear and destroy them is NOT in keeping with "public policy." Scientology violates this every single day. The IRS sits on … [Read more...]
Scientology: Government Against The Ungovernable
Two Castle Rock, Colorado High School students, Sally and Madelyn, made a short film about scientology. They entered it in a local competition and won first place in their category! They were required to submit a paper, describing their planned film and why it addressed a worthy topic before they began. You can read their submission here: Context Essay This is their description of their documentary: "Our submission was for the 2022 National History day senior division documentary category! The theme this year is debate and diplomacy, we chose to represent this with the conflict seen … [Read more...]
Scientology, Christianity and the IRS
Reiterating something I have covered before on this Sunday morning. The idea that you can be a scientologist and a Christian is a lie, yet scientologists claim this all the time to try to appear "normal" or "non-threatening." You can see from the official IRS publication above listing the criteria the IRS uses to determine whether an organization qualifies for tax exempt status as a religious organization, that one of them is: Membership not associated with any other church or denomination During the quest to obtain exemption, scientology explained things to the IRS like … [Read more...]
Scientology Loses Again in England
One of our regular commenters, ISNOINews, pointed out this new decision reported in the UK. Since being denied charitable status in the UK in the early 2000's, scientology has been attempting all sorts of end-runs to circumvent the decision of the Charity Commission. They once again fell falling short as the British regulatory agencies don't just buy the bs scientology tries to foist off about what they do. Here is an article about the latest decision where they were seeking rate (tax) exemptions for 3 org buildings (the org and test center in London and the org in Manchester) on the … [Read more...]
Australian Media Again Leading the Way
You have to hand it to the Australian media -- they are, as a whole, less cowed by scientology than in any other country. We have watched for years as Bryan Seymour and Steve Cannane have done numerous stories exposing scientology's abuses. And there have been others too. And now Ben Schneiders has joined the party, and is making a big splash. In the past week he has published an explosive report about scientology finances and follow up stories detailing how this is now ballooning into a demand from at least one member of the Australian Parliament, Andrew Leigh, for an investigation of … [Read more...]