In 1954, LRH established the Church of Scientology of California (before D.C. and later Clearwater) in Los Angeles. The church gained a temporary right to tax-exempt status in 1957. A year later, the I.R.S. began investigating the church.

In 1967, Scientology's tax-exempt status was stripped away due to the I.R.S. investigation decision that Scientology was a commercial enterprise. Scientology felt this was unlawful and discriminatory.

In 1973, Scientology retaliated with "Snow White," a strategy to basically steal government documents relating to Scientology. This lead to the infiltration of the Dept. of Justice and the I.R.S., in which documents were taken and copied and a conference room was bugged.

In 1977, LRH's third wife plus 10 others went to prison over their actions.

When LRH died in 1986, David Miscavige took the torch for the fight against the I.R.S. Miscavige used a wide range of techniques, from public pressure to an army of private investigators to expose the I.R.S.'s dirty laundry (mostly criminal). This was a period of embarrassment for the I.R.S. and Scientology was recognized as the only organization brave or powerful enough to fight the I.R.S.

In October 1991, Miscavige met with Fred Goldberg, then I.R.S. commissioner. Goldberg set up a 5 member group to review Scientology's case for tax-exempt status. In June 1992, the US Claims Court denied Scientology's status once again. Scientology's lawyers continued to fight.

In August 1993, Scientology learned it could attain tax-exempt status if it resubmitted applications for exemption and re-evaluated by the respective I.R.S. organization. Apparently, the tax agents were told by senior I.R.S. management to gloss over the applications and give Scientology a rubber stamp.

On October 13, 1993, Scientology gained their coveted status as well as the legitimacy that accompanies it. The I.R.S. refused to disclose anything about the decision or the legal ramifications for Scientology (back taxes, etc).

This has proven the relative power of a small yet zealous, intimidating organization and shown, well, "Don't screw with Scientology."
Source(s):
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/09/us/scientology-s-puzzling-journey-from-ta...

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