Letter: Church risks tax-exempt status
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune)
Jack Gerard of the LDS Church, with Lisa Harkness and Craig Christensen, announces the church's opposition to Utah's medical marijuana initiative at a news conference in Salt Lake City, Thursday Aug. 23, 2018.
When I read that Marty Stephens, the LDS Church’s director of community and government relations, is dictating what the church wants regarding legislation of medical marijuana and is calling the shots for a special session, saying, “and have a special session one way or the other to make sure that we’ve got this right” (Tribune, Sept. 18), I have to ask myself, “Who’s this ‘we’ he speaks of?”
It would seem to me that this level of activity by the church, that it admittedly is directly involved with the state Legislature, apparently having the ability to call a special session, would be a clear violation of its 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status.
There, I pointed out the big ol’ elephant in the room; done my part. Anybody going to do anything?
Alas …
Peter A Orum, Salt Lake City
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