Scientology's hostility to taxation


One of the most mysterious aspects of the Church of Scientology's controversial tax exemption, awarded by the IRS on 1 October 1993, is the apparently deliberate disregard for Scientology's "scripturally-based" hostility to taxation. The US Claims Court had in fact cited this as recently as 1992 as a reason to deny exemption, along with "the commercial character of much of Scientology" and its "virtually incomprehensible financial procedures". But Scientology's teachings on taxation remain unchanged.

Its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, was pathologically hostile to governments and taxation in general. This appears to have resulted from his belief that the US and other governments were constantly conspiring against him, under the influence of a sinister "psychopolitical" plot hatched by the psychiatric profession. His hostility to taxation may also have been influenced by his obsession with personal enrichment, testified to by a number of those who worked with him.

He makes numerous hostile references to governments and taxation in his writings and lectures - so many, in fact, that it is not worth cataloguing them all. But it is notable that Scientology continues to propagate Hubbard's views on the subject. An attitude of hostility bordering on paranoia towards central government continues to be inculcated in Scientologists.

The following is a selection of Hubbard's statements on the subject, which demonstrate his rabid hostility towards government and taxes: