The U.S. Tax Court handed down bad news to a California group this week, agreeing with the Internal Revenue Service that Families Against Government Slavery shouldn’t be granted tax-exempt status as an educational organization.According to court documents, the group began organizing in 2003, and had as its mission the goal of educating the public about the alleged slavery and entrapment of Hollywood celebrities by government officials. The group’s activities consisted largely of public demonstrations made solely by its founder.
At those demonstrations, passersby would receive pamphlets outlining the group’s belief that the Federal Bureau of Investigation -- working with police and private gangs -- routinely kidnap and enslave Hollywood celebrities and minorities for financial gain and as a way of engaging in “blood sport.”
The IRS had requested evidence supporting the conspiracy allegations, but it, like the tax court, was unsatisfied with the documents the group’s founder returned. The court went so far as to describe the more than 1,000 pages of documentation as “consisting largely of nonsensical, emotionally charged and incomprehensible allegations.”
Because the tax code’s definition of educational purposes do not include activities principally involving the presentation of unsupported opinion, the court ruled that the group’s activities do not further educational purposes under the operational test.
The court’s memo is available at
