Michael and Marla Sklar, who sued the IRS twice because they were not allowed to deduct the cost of Jewish religious training for the children, while Scientologists are allowed to deduct the costs of Scientology training, have lost again.

Here's the ruling, issued December 21, 2005:

http://www.ustaxcourt.gov/InOpHistoric/Sk2lar.TC.WPD.pdf

I'm not a lawyer, but from a quick reading of the opinion, they appear to have lost because unlikey Scientology, the yeshiva their kids attended provided a mixture of secular and religious education, and "petitioners claims did not meet the requirements for partial deductibility of dual payments established by United States v. Am. Bar Endowment, 477 U.S. 105 (1986)."

But check out this footnote, which seems to suggest that Scientology's 1993 agreement with the IRS is illegal:

In Sklar v. Commissioner, 282 F.3d 610, 612 n.3 (9th Cir. 2002), affg. T.C. Memo. 2000-118, the U.S. Court of Appeals said it is strongly inclined to the view that sec. 170 was not amended in 1993 to permit deductions for which the consideration is intangible religious benefits, and that Hernandez v. Commissioner, 490 U.S. 680, 702 (1989), is still controlling.

To read more about Scientology's secret agreement with the IRS, visit Chris Owen's "Scientology vs. the IRS" page:

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Cowen/essays/irs.html

-- Dave Touretzky: "Who audits the auditors?"
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Secrets

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