Well, all of my fears are allayed. I feel perfectly comfortable with the idea that the IRS is not going to target Christian colleges’ tax exempt status…yet.
During a Judiciary Oversight Subcommittee hearing, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, reportedly told Sen. Mike Lee, that the IRS does not intend to target the tax exempt status of religious schools for not adopting policies such as allowing married same-sex couples to live in married student housing -in light of the recent Supreme Court ruling on marriage.
“I can make that commitment,” Koskinen said.
But that “commitment” seems to come with a time limit.
“Down the road, if the IRS ever moves in that direction because of public policy changes, it would first issue a draft regulation for public comment so the public would have plenty of notice and plenty of opportunity for comment and that’s not going to happen in the next two-and-a-half years,” Koskinen continued.
So what he’s telling Christian colleges is…you’ve got two years and then we’re coming for you.
You might recall that Solicitor General Donald Verrilli said, while arguing in front of the Supreme Court, that it “is certainly going to be an issue,” when asked about whether religious institutions could risk losing their tax exempt status in light of gay marriage being made a right.
