New Complaints About C Street “Church” and Members of Congress

We previously blogged about a request by a group of Columbus, Ohio pastors to the IRS that it investigate whether the C Street Center in Washington, DC should be entitled to tax-exempt status as a church.  The Center reportedly serves as a residential facility and spiritual retreat for some members of Congress.  Now the same group, known as Clergy VOICE, has filed an additional complaint with the IRS asserting that the these members of Congress may have failed to properly report as taxable income the value of the allegedly subsidized housing they received through the Center.  Following up on this second complaint, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has field a complaints with both the House and Senate ethics committees alleging that members of Congress paid well-below market rates to live in the Center.  As detailed in the CREW press release, the specific members involved are Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Jim DeMint (R-SC), and John Ensign (R-NV), as well as Representatives Mike Doyle (D-PA), Heath Shuler (D-NC), Bart Stupak (D-MI) and Zach Wamp (R-TN). 

Press coverage available from Fox News and MSNBC.

Full disclosure:  Caplin & Drysdale, the firm with which I am Of Counsel, is representing Clergy VOICE.

LHM