Business and economics |

No, not that man upstairs. I mean Seth P. Waxman, a partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr.

Waxman’s firm has agreed to represent the United Church of Christ on a pro bono basis during the IRS investigation of the church’s tax-exempt status. The entire denomination’s status is at risk due to the IRS inquiry following Obama’s address at the UCC annual convention.

Legal fees were expected to reach six figures during the investigation (ouch!). The church has now ceased its attempts to collect money for legal fees; it had collected $59,564 to pay for the expected legal costs.

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It seems that nobody really knows what to do about Social Security. Or maybe it’s that lots of folks do really know, but nobody has the guts to do it…

At any rate, presidential candidate Barack Obama and other Democratic presidential candidates have previously indicated that something needs to happen to save Social Security. Initially, most support seemed to be for a plan to lift the cap on the amount of income that is taxed to provide monthly Social Security checks in an effort to save the program. The program is expected to operate in the red in just ten years and it is anticipated that the funds would be completely exhausted by 2041.

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The IRS is serious about the rules which prohibit non-profit organizations, including churches, from supporting candidates or political parties.

Just a few week after the IRS mailed a lengthy letter to First Baptist Church of Buena Park pastor Wiley S. Drake advising that he was being investigated for his 2007 support of presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee, Obama’s denomination, United Church of Christ, has announced that it had been contacted by the IRS. The IRS is investigating UCC with respect to a speech that Senator Obama made at the UCC national meeting in 2007.

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