IRS Investigating Obama's United Church Of Christ

The IRS has recently begun investigating the United Church of Christ congregation in Chicago which Barack Obama attends, over a speech Sen. Barack Obama gave at its national meeting last year after he became a candidate for president, the denomination said Tuesday.


The article states:

The IRS has stepped up its monitoring of the political activity of nonprofit groups during the 2008 election. It is more common for individual congregations to be targeted, not entire denominations, but very large ministries have been investigated in the past.

The inquiries can take years. Punishments can range from a financial penalty to loss of tax-exempt status -- an outcome that church attorneys call the "death penalty" for nonprofits.

This investigation goes hand in hand with our recent discussions about the different types of organizations and the limits of their political actions and spending.