Church of Scientology the "United Churches of Florida" the citizens and City Council of Clearwater did not realize that the building's owners were actually the Church of Scientology until after the building's purchase. Clearwater citizens' groups, headed by Mayor Gabriel Cazares, rallied strongly against Scientology establishing a base in the city (repeatedly referring to the organization as a cult), but Flag Base was established nonetheless. In the years since its foundation, the Flag Land Base has expanded as the Church of Scientology has gradually purchased large amounts of additional property in the downtown and waterfront Clearwater area. Scientology's largest project in Clearwater has
Tax status of Scientology in the United States Falwell's Old Time Gospel Hour – the IRS refused to make public any of the agreement's terms or how much the Church of Scientology had paid in back taxes. It was not until December 30, 1997 that the terms of the agreement became public when they were leaked to "The Wall Street Journal". The source of the leak (which was made to both "The Wall Street Journal" and "The New York Times") was never disclosed but it possibly came from Capitol Hill, where a congressional committee had recently subpoenaed numerous IRS documents. The agreement between Scientology and the IRS comprises