WASHINGTON — Since coming to Clearwater in 1975, the Church of Scientology has grown into a dominating presence in the city and now owns 11 properties in the area. Clearwater, known as Flag Land Base in Scientology jargon, is considered the international spiritual headquarters of the religion. The church has 750 or so staff members based in Clearwater, and hundreds more come from around the world to take part in Scientology religious services. Even before the IRS granted tax-exempt status to ...

CLEARWATER — With the Internal Revenue Service proclaiming them an official tax-free religion, the Church of Scientology had hoped to quickly launch a $42 million expansion downtown. But the city of Clearwater has put the church on notice that it might not be able to grow too fast. The six-story office tower and auditorium Scientologists plan to build across the street from their Fort Harrison Hotel may be so big that it qualifies as a "Development of Regional Impact" under the ...

A new six-story training and counseling center is planned for Clearwater. WASHINGTON — Hoping to expand to "every city on earth," the Church of Scientology plans to spend $185-million during the next five years to renovate and acquire properties, plus another $112-million on a campaign to spread its message around the world. The Scientologists' spiritual headquarters in Clearwater would get the biggest chunk of construction money over the next few years, the Church of Scientology said in documents filed with the ...

Upon my return to Clearwater after a month's absence, I was greeted with the news that the Scientologists had been granted tax-free status by the IRS. I hurriedly resumed delivery of the St. Petersburg Times to discover the facts and the community reactions to the news. To my relief, Associate Editor Martin Dyckman's column the following day was a model of intelligent reporting and analysis. "Why should any religion enjoy tax exemptions?" he asked. Later in his column he quoted Justice ...

It is appalling to see the intense scrutiny and negative examination of the Church of Scientology by reporters who assume expertise in the subject. Obviously, the subject is sensational: "Church of Scientology declared a bona fide religion by IRS!" But to stir it all up again, to continue to try to get the fire going again, is not only insulting to Scientologists, but I would say to all religions. Has it been forgotten that the right to religious worship is one ...

When the IRS granted tax exemptions to the church, it did so mainly on the basis of what Scientology did with its money. WASHINGTON — It might be easier for a camel to walk through the eye of a needle than for the IRS to judge the merits of a religion. So when it comes to considering tax exemptions, the agency sticks to what it knows: money. For the Church of Scientology, which won a series of tax exemptions earlier this ...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 21 — The Church of Scientology, the secretive and combative international organization that recently won a decades-long drive for Federal tax exemption, counts assets of about $400 million and appears to take in nearly $300 million a year from counseling fees, book sales, investments and other sources, according to documents filed with the Internal Revenue Service. The financial disclosures are in documents the church was required to file with the I.R.S. in applying for tax-exempt status, conferred on 30 ...

At issue is an ordinance on solicitations. At stake is residents' security — or religious freedom. CLEARWATER — The city is still fighting the Church of Scientology. Despite a strongly worded recent court decision in favor of Scientology, city commissioners have decided to continue the decade-long legal battle over a rule that would let the city police the organization's financial records. The commissioners reached their decision at a closed-door meeting Tuesday, Alan Zimmet, a lawyer who attended the meeting, said Wednesday. ...

CLEARWATER — City commissioners will appeal a controversial ordinance to the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary, to ensure they can enforce it, the city's attorney on the case said Wednesday. "They [city commissioners] are resolved to pursue forward and fight," said attorney Alan Zimmet, who is handling the appeal. But further appeals of the ordinance, which would require churches to disclose how they spend money donated by church members, would be foolish, said Richard Haworth, spokesman for the Church of Scientology. ...

[This is a shorter reprint of Scientologists profited from new members | St. Petersburg Times (Florida) | 15 October 1993.] WASHINGTON — It pays to pitch Scientology, according to earnings reports the church has filed with the Internal Revenue Service. One man averaged almost $200,000 a year in commissions from the fees of new members he had solicited to become Scientologists. The church gives its proselytizers 10 to 15 percent of what newcomers "donate" for church services, such as the ...

To Mr. Mark DeEulio, Tampa, Florida Obviously, there was a concerted effort on the part of Scientology and Richard Haworth to flood my fax machine with requests on an upcoming legal issue. Also it appears that Dr. David Singer, a local chiropractor and Scientologist, used his offices to process the vast majority of this mail. It appears you were not acting as individuals expressing your own personal concerns, but you were expressing the concerns of a manufactured perspective. With regard to ...

The Church of Scientology, having just won tax-exempt status, after a bitter, decades-long battle with the Internal Revenue Service, is now ready to take on media critics in a major promotional campaign to try to mend its public image. Early this month, the Internal Revenue Service notified 30 entities within the Church of Scientology hierarchy that they would be recognized as tax-exempt organizations, whose donation income isn't subject to federal income tax. Church officials hailed the decision, saying it would allow ...

CLEARWATER — City commissioners decided Tuesday how they'll handle an ordinance opposed by the Church of Scientology but won't say what their decision was. Mayor Rita Garvey said attorneys working on behalf of the city have filed an appeal to a federal appellate court ruling that declared parts of the ordinance unconstitutional, but she did not elaborate. All five city commissioners offered "no comments" about the substance of their secret meeting and referred questions to attorney Alan Zimmet, who did not ...

Re: IRS Scientology is tax-exempt religion, Oct. 13. The Internal Revenue Service's reversal of the income tax status of the Church of Scientology was both stunning and perplexing. What is the story behind the story? Was some kind of compromise arrived at? A deal? Unanswered questions abound. Taxing personal income, for many Americans, has created a strong moral distaste and sense of injustice, unlike what is felt for other forms of taxation. These Americans have seen, over the years, the ...

CLEARWATER — One thing about the Church of Scientology: the folks in charge sure do things the hard way. For 40 years, they feuded off and on with the Internal Revenue Service, which viewed Scientology as a for-profit brain-washing racket instead of just another religion in want of federal tax exemptions. At times, the feuding got awfully ugly, with Scientologists getting sent up the river for burglary and other niceties that church people don't normally commit — well at least those ...

No one would ever accuse the Church of Scientology of not being vigilant about its press coverage, especially when it comes to its famous Hollywood members. One of the latest cases in point was the 2,000-word response in Premiere magazine after a recent story about Scientology's ties to the entertainment industry. This was followed by the publication of a 16-page booklet dubbed "Premiere Propaganda." "Premiere's reporter was not interested in writing a fair story on the church. Instead he went out ...

The city's 10-year battle has been expensive and fruitless. Commissioners will meet Tuesday to discuss their next move, if any. CLEARWATER — The Church of Scientology, it appears, is winning the war. After years of bitter fighting with various government entities, Scientology has been granted the same status as mainstream churches by the Internal Revenue Service, and an appeals court has said the city has no right to police the organization's records. The touchy question facing city leaders: Hunker down for ...

Forget, for a moment, the corporate spying, the illicit attempts to discredit its opponents. Forget the seized Church of Scientology documents that revealed a plan "to fully investigate the Clearwater city and county area so we can distinguish our friends from our enemies and handle as needed." Forget the "church" members who bugged U.S. Internal Revenue Service offices and stole files from government agencies. Consider merely the practical effect of the IRS' decision to grant tax-exempt status to 153 Church of ...

Newly released earnings reports show late founder L. Ron Hubbard's disciples can earn big money by soliciting members to Scientology. WASHINGTON — It pays to pitch Scientology, according to earnings reports the church has filed with the Internal Revenue Service. One man averaged almost $200,000 a year in commissions from the fees of new members he had solicited to become Scientologists. The church gives its proselytizers 10 to 15 percent of what newcomers "donate" for church services, such as the process ...

Pinellas County's property tax lawsuit with the Church of Scientology is badly wounded by an Internal Revenue Service ruling that the organization is exempt from federal income taxes, Property Appraiser Jim Smith said Wednesday. CLEARWATER — Now that the Church of Scientology has been granted IRS approval as a tax-exempt religion, downtown Clearwater could be in for some major changes. Scientology has no immediate plans to buy more property downtown, the home of the organization's international spiritual headquarters, said spokesman Richard ...

Jaws sagged over many a breakfast table Wednesday at the news that the Internal Revenue Service has finally thrown in the towel and conceded the Church of Scientology to be a religion. Since its secretive arrival in Clearwater 18 years ago, Scientology has not been the best of neighbors. Nor has it managed to live down its wider reputation for exploiting vulnerable followers. In a memorable editorial, the Clearwater Sun — now defunct, for other reasons — once said that for ...

The Church of Scientology, freed of its income tax obligations by the IRS this month, is spending $114-million to preserve the voluminous writings of deceased founder L. Ron Hubbard, the group says in newly released documents. The works will be etched into steel plates and printed in book form on natural cotton and linen fabric, according to documents. Some will be stocked in an underground vault in California that is designed, Scientologists hope, to protect the writings during a nuclear war. ...

The IRS' exemption of the Church of Scientology may doom the county's effort to collect a tax bill exceeding $7.9-million. CLEARWATER — Pinellas County's property tax lawsuit against the Church of Scientology is badly wounded by an Internal Revenue Service ruling that exempts the organization from federal income taxes, Property Appraiser Jim Smith said Wednesday. The two sides are headed back to mediation that likely will result in many, if not all, of the Scientology properties being removed from the property ...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 — The Government said today that it had agreed to grant a tax exemption to the Church of Scientology and more than 150 of its related corporations, ending one of the longest-running tax disputes in American history. "This puts an end to what has been an historic war," said Marty Rathbun, president of a Scientology organization that received a tax exemption. "It's like the Palestinians and the Israelis shaking hands." Officials at the Internal Revenue Service and the ...

After decades of feuding, the Internal Revenue Service has granted the Church of Scientology and more than 150 of its corporate entities tax-exempt status, ruling that they are charitable, religious organizations entitled to be free from federal income taxes. Marty Rathbun, president of one of the Scientology organizations that received the tax exemptions, said the government sent 30 exemption letters to Scientology groups earlier this month. All told, the exemptions apply to 153 corporate entities, said Rathbun, who is the president ...