WASHINGTON (AP) — IRS Commissioner John Koskinen says religious colleges that don’t accept gay marriage aren’t at immediate risk of losing their tax-exempt status.
At a Senate hearing, Utah Republican Mike Lee noted that Bob Jones University lost its tax-exempt status over its racial policies in the 1970s.
Lee asked whether the IRS chief could pledge that he would not “take any action to remove the tax-exempt status from religious colleges and universities based on their belief that marriage is between a man and a woman.”
Koskinen said, “I can make that commitment.”
The IRS commissioner noted that changes in public policy could force the IRS to reevaluate that position in the future, but said that won’t happen in the next several years and would have to be preceded by a draft regulation with time for public comments.
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