It's not often I see a public call for the removal of a tax exempt status from an organization. I'm not even sure I remember the causes for the few times I have indeed witnessed such a call.
There's a new book on Scientology that not only challenges the validity of the Church but indeed, it's tax exempt status. I'm not actually interested in the question of whether Scientology's tax exemption should be singled-out for reconsideration. What I am more interested in is the question of when is it exactly the correct time to question the exempt status of a nonprofit.
If a nonprofit has beliefs and practices that "seem" just too weird to the majority, is that the time for a review? And what exactly would constitute "weird"? Or Should the question come when the organization or its principles have been found to be either doing harm or covering-up the doing of harm by its volunteers and employees? Or how about when a nonprofit is all about profits and there's few indicators of its charitable activities? Or how about nonprofits that aggressively promote and rouse its members to promote public policies that do not necessarily advance society and could produce more harm than good if adopted?
Clearly, few of these rationale are currently applied as the singular standard for when a nonprofit should be permitted to stay as such. But is this what is needed to fill the void for what the for-profit has no incentive to produce and the public sector has no mandate to produce?