The most recent change came in 1987 when Congress amended the language to clarify that the prohibition also applies to statements opposing candidates.Ĭurrently, the law prohibits political campaign activity by charities and churches by defining a 501(c)(3) organization as one “which does not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office.” To the extent Congress has revisited the ban over the years, it has in fact strengthened the ban. Lyndon Johnson to prohibit 501(c)(3) organizations, which includes charities and churches, from engaging in any political campaign activity. In 1954, Congress approved an amendment by Sen. Here is some background information on the political campaign activity ban and the latest IRS enforcement statistics regarding its administration of this congressional ban. The Internal Revenue Service administers the tax laws written by Congress and has enforcement authority over tax-exempt organizations. The ban on political campaign activity by charities and churches was created by Congress more than a half century ago. The IRS itself clarified the issue on an IRS.gov page titled “Charities, Churches and Politics,” last updated on March 28 2022. One undercurrent of the tangled discussion was about the IRS Locke should be considered the head of a church in this context. Popular searches included “Greg Locke IRS,” “Greg Locke church,” “Greg Locke pastor,” “IRS form 13909,” and “Global Vision Bible Church.” Why Would the IRS Care About Greg Locke and Political Sermons?
Google Trends data for the week ending revealed interconnected topics about Locke, the IRS, 501(c)(3) status, and TikTok. In any event, the wildly popular claim was largely in the realm of “he said, and then he also said,” and none of the discourse linked to any relevant TikTok videos providing any evidence of any coordinated action on the platform. I’m limited in what I could find out as someone who’s not an authorized representative of his organization. I should note that there’s always the possibility that any tax exempt entity is/was using a different name that doesn’t include Greg Locke or Global Vision. Cohen concluded that Locke either “relinquished its 501(c)(3) status or it didn’t have it to begin with,” undermining the claim that social media-inspired actions had deprived Locke of his church’s tax exempt status.Ĭohen added that it was difficult to rule out records without knowing all possible organization names, further muddying the claim: I was told there is “no record of tax exempt recognition by the IRS.” So either he relinquished its 501(c)(3) status or it didn’t have it to begin with, but either way, it’s subject to taxation now.Ĭohen stated that he placed a call to the IRS to verify his own tweet, and “was told” that there was “no record of tax exempt recognition by the IRS” for Locke’s church. I just called the IRS to check on the tax-exempt status of Greg Locke’s church. Notably, Cohen effectively nullified his initial, extremely viral claim: Roughly two hours after that, Cohen followed up with a second tweet which received far less engagement. Remember the belligerent pastor from Tennessee who said: “Democrats can’t be Christian!” and: “You ain’t seen an insurrection – yet!” Well, after a multitude of IRS complaints (coordinated through TikTok users), his church HAS JUST LOST ITS TAX-EXEMPT STATUS! Within an hour, another very popular tweet proclaimed: Is this true? Can people report churches to the IRS? If so, I think that would be a great new tiktok challenge.Ī mere mention of a “TikTok challenge” seemed to transmute the claim into an existing trend on TikTok. NEW: A pastor in Tennessee just said his church is no longer tax-exempt after TikTok users submitted complaints to the IRS because he went on a rabid rant at his church saying Democrats can’t be Christian and yelled “you ain’t seen an insurrection yet!” On Facebook, the page “ The Other 98%” shared a better quality version of the same screenshot.įirst up was a tweet from Brian Tyler Cohen, which read: Looking for a challenge? Look no further ….Īnatomy of the Claim, and Discourse About TikTok IRS Reports Against Greg Locke
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