Maybe the IRS will find Kari Lake as taxing as we do

Earlier this month, Donald Trump visited Dream City Church in Phoenix. Not as a congregant, but as its messiah.

What may once have been a religious institution has managed in recent years to morph into a house of Trump worship while still maintaining an official tax exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit status, somehow allowing them to preach as much about politics as theology.

It’s one of those instances that almost makes you wish blasphemy was against the law.

Operating a phony nonprofit is supposed to be illegal.

The Internal Revenue Service is quite specific in describing the limitations of 501(c)(3) organizations, saying, “Under the Internal Revenue Code, all section 501(c)(3) organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office.”

Is Save Arizona Fund really about 'social welfare?'

It’s ludicrous that “churches” like Dream City get away with it. As do a lot of others.

The head of the Pinal County Democratic Party, Lisa Sanor, believes that Trump sycophant and U.S. Senate Candidate Kari Lake is also associated with a nonprofit that is skirting the rules.

Sanor filed a complaint with the IRS saying that the Save Arizona Fund, closely associated with Lake, should lose its tax exempt status.

Lake goes over a legal cliff: Like Wile E. Coyote

The fund is a 501(c)(4) organization that describes itself as “Arizona-based non-profit social welfare organization operating as exempt from federal taxes.”

There are slightly different rules for different nonprofits.

Under the IRS rules, a 501(c)(4) operation like Save Arizona Fund “may engage in political campaigns on behalf of or in opposition to candidates for public office provided that such intervention does not constitute the organization's primary activity.”

Kari Lake shouldn't be above the rules, but ...

That last part is where Sanor believes the fund goes off the rails, pointing out in her complaint that the fund isn’t about social welfare at all but “instead operates primarily for the private benefit of Kari Lake.”

The complaint includes a number of examples.

The Arizona Mirror first reported about Sanor’s complaint to the IRS. Neither Lake nor the fund responded to the Mirror’s request for comment.

In a statement, Sanor said in part, “Kari Lake only cares about boosting herself — but she isn’t above the rules … .”

It’s a nice thought.

But living “above the rules” might as well be Lake’s campaign slogan. She tried to be above the rules when it came to how elections are determined. She tried to be above the rules when it came to how lawsuits are resolved. She keeps trying, and keeps losing.

Lake will probably try to be above the rules when it comes to nonprofits as well. That’s why, whether the IRS takes action or not, she is undeniably … taxing.

Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: IRS should find Kari Lake as taxing as we do