
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 13, 1993                   TAG: 9310130175
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES                                LENGTH: Short

SCIENTOLOGY WINS TAX EXEMPTIONS

After decades of nasty feuding, the Internal Revenue Service has granted the Church of Scientology and more than 150 of its corporate entities tax-exempt status, ruling they are charitable, religious organizations entitled to be free from taxation.

Marty Rathbun, president of one of the Scientology organizations that received the tax exemptions, said the government sent 30 exemption letters to Scientology groups this month. All told, the exemptions apply to 153 corporate entities, said Rathbun, president of the Religious Technology Center.

"We're extremely pleased with the tax exemptions," Rathbun said, adding that because of them, "We look forward to our greatest expansion ever."

The exemptions, granted as part of a larger agreement between the IRS and Scientology, are thought to be worth millions of dollars to Scientology, which requires fixed donations for its costly progression of courses. The IRS ruling means church members may now deduct those costs on their tax returns, allowing Scientology to raise money more easily.

The exemptions come after after 40 years of fighting between the IRS and Scientology, which at times grew so intense that Scientology's late founder, L. Ron Hubbard, included his animosity toward the agency in the church's official teachings.

The government has long recognized Scientology as a religion, but has consistently denied tax exempt status to the myriad corporate entities that make up the church's sprawling empire, contending those organizations were operating primarily as businesses and that their money was being used for the private benefit of top Scientology leaders.

by CNB