NYT: A progressive organization is plunging itself into the presidential campaign, unveiling plans to spend $75 million on digital advertising to counter President Trump’s early spending advantage in key 2020 battleground states.The effort, by a nonprofit group called Acronym and … Continue reading
Category Archives: tax law and election law
CREW: Following a historic victory against dark money by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), Americans for Job Security (AJS) has released its donors from 2010 through 2012, including major contributions from Peter Thiel, Richard and Helen DeVos, … Continue reading
Ellen Aprill oped: The impact of private wealth on public policy through tax-exempt organizations has garnered much attention of late, with recent scandals involving the Sacklers, Jeffrey Epstein, and a number of prestigious universities. Recent critiques, however, fail to emphasize … Continue reading
Timely exploration by Tim Mooney at NPQ. … Continue reading
Ellen Aprill has an important new piece at Tax Notes building off the Price for Congress request for an advisory opinion, and lucky for us you can get it from behind the paywall: An August 22 deadlock by the Federal Election … Continue reading
Bloomberg: A nonprofit linked to the conservative Koch organization that spent more than $20 million to elect Republican congressional candidates must disclose its donors, according to a settlement with the Federal Election Commission.The now-defunct Americans for Job Security (AJS), said in … Continue reading
Quite a read. In January, the Wall Street Journal reported that in 2014 and 2015, Michael Cohen hired Gauger’s side business, RedFinch LLC, to rig online polls in Donald Trump’s favor while he considered a run for the presidency. Gauger’s work consisted of writing … Continue reading
FEC: August 22, 2019On August 22, 2019, the Commission considered an advisory opinion request (AOR) from Price for Congress, the principal campaign committee of former Rep. Dr. Thomas Price. The request asked if the committee could contribute funds to establish and operate … Continue reading
See here. If the FEC deadlocks, Price will have to decide whether to go forward with his plan and risk liability for doing so. But given how lax FEC enforcement is these days, it is not clear how much of … Continue reading
Ciara Torres-Spelliscy blogs. … Continue reading
The court ruled that if the IRS wants to enforce such a rule, it has to go through the notice and comment period. … Continue reading
CPI reports. … Continue reading
The Intercept: CONSERVATIVE ACTIVIST VIRGINIA “Ginni” Thomas is launching yet another project to wage war on multiple fronts of America’s most heated cultural and political debates. This time, however, her plan will include a project to “protect President Trump” using at … Continue reading
NYT: The tantalizing leaks have spilled out in the weeks since the National Rifle Association’s annual convention in Indianapolis devolved into civil war.Amid anxiety over falling revenue and mounting legal trouble has come news that the gun group’s longtime chief … Continue reading
WaPo fact checker. … Continue reading
ProPublica has this report, with the subhead: “Six years after it was excoriated for allegedly targeting conservative organizations, the agency has largely given up on regulating an entire category of nonprofits. The result: More dark money gushes into the political … Continue reading
I expect we will hear a lot more about this new report: The political Left often criticizes—and the mainstream media frequently report on—the network of center-right nonprofits funded by billionaire entrepreneurs Charles and David Koch. But few politicos know of … Continue reading
Must-read story. … Continue reading
Ellen Aprill blogs. … Continue reading
Histphil: Editors’ Note: Ellen P. Aprill reviews Philip Hamburger’s Liberal Suppression: Section 501(c)(3) and the Taxation of Speech. Hamburger introduced his book’s central arguments in a previous HistPhil post. … Continue reading
Sean Parnell: The bill would do nothing to roll back Michigan’s laws mandating disclosure of campaign contributions or inhibit investigations of fraudulent practices by nonprofits. The only thing the Personal Privacy Protection Act does is prevent state and local officials … Continue reading
I missed linking earlier to this smart Atlantic piece from David: This model had been fraying long before the Trump presidency. Labor unions, under sustained attack from the right, suffered a steep decline in membership and clout over the latter … Continue reading
Sean Parnell has this post at HistPhil, part of a series on the history of anonymous giving. … Continue reading
Politico: A network of secret-money nonprofit groups has spent millions of dollars attacking swing-seat House Republicans on health care and taxes, quietly becoming one of the biggest players in the 2018 political landscape. The groups have local members and names … Continue reading
NYT: In 2010, before the Affordable Care Act was passed by Congress, the pharmaceutical industry’s top lobbying group was a very public supporter of the measure. It even helped fund a multimillion-dollar TV ad campaignbacking passage of the law. But last … Continue reading
NYT: Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana, a Democrat who has crusaded against the loosening of campaign finance rules, is suing the Trump administration to block it from eliminating a mandate that politically active nonprofit groups disclose the identities of their … Continue reading
WSJ: The Treasury Department will allow some nonprofit groups to provide less information about donors on their tax forms in a win for conservative organizations engaged in politics. Until now, nonprofit groups, including charities and trade associations, had to list … Continue reading
Philip Hackney NYT oped: The New York State attorney general yesterday filed a lawsuit against the Donald J. Trump Foundation and its directors, accusing the charity and the Trump family of violating campaign finance laws, self-dealing and illegal coordination with the presidential … Continue reading
Ciara Torres-Spelliscy blogs. … Continue reading
Bob in the Altantic: The law governing the activity of charitable organizations can be complex, but on the question of whether 501(c)(3) charities can engage in political activity, it could not be more straightforward. They cannot. The IRS enforces an … Continue reading
Big news from Issue One: This week, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced that it revoked the dark money group Americans for Job Security’s tax exempt status. The announcement followed a complaintfrom Issue One and the Campaign Legal Center (CLC) against the organization. Americans for … Continue reading
KC Star: The Missouri House has dropped its effort to enforce a subpoena demanding documents from former Gov. Eric Greitens’ secretive dark money nonprofit. Lawmakers had asked Cole County Circuit Court Judge Jon Beetem to force Greitens’ nonprofit, called A … Continue reading
Bruce Freed and Karl Sandstrom oped in The Hill. … Continue reading
Bloomberg BNA: A nonprofit that is spending millions of dollars supporting Republicans in the midterm elections is the latest group to ask a federal appeals court to help keep its donors secret. Three cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals … Continue reading
Raymond Fisman writes. … Continue reading
MapLight: A single donation accounted for more than three-quarters of the $63.7 million donated to the Koch brothers’ flagship political organization in 2016, according to tax records obtained by MapLight. The $48.7 million gift to Americans for Prosperity (AFP), the … Continue reading
Great work by Open Secrets: As the final weeks of the 2016 elections ticked down, voters in swing states like Nevada and North Carolina began seeing eerie promotional travel ads as they scrolled through their Facebook feeds or clicked through … Continue reading
The motion is here. TTV is fundraising off the motion. … Continue reading
NPR: A provision in the U.S tax code that bars churches and charities from engaging in political campaigns remains intact, more than a year after President Trump pledged to “get rid of and totally destroy” it. Under the Johnson Amendment, … Continue reading
Brennan Center: At least two presidents, seven governors and several prominent mayors – from both major parties – have established nonprofits that allow them to raise unlimited, anonymous funds for political spending after election day. In recent years, the risk … Continue reading
Ellen Aprill oped in the Hill: As a result of these changes, estimates of the percentage of taxpayers who will itemize has fallen to somewhere between 5 percent and 10 percent. The vast majority of taxpayers will benefit more from taking the standard deduction. Those … Continue reading
Eliza Newlin Carney for TAP. … Continue reading
CNBC: America First Policies, a nonprofit group with close ties to President Donald Trump, has hired Trump’s pollsters to conduct a wide range of political polling and research that experts say resembles the kind of expensive work the Republican National Committee … Continue reading
Robert Maguire for Open Secrets: A secretive political group that is little more than a mailbox full of money in a Des Moines UPS Store raised more than $29.4 million in 2016, most of which was funneled into ads aimed at electing … Continue reading
I wonder if the Obama-led IRS would have agreed to this. … Continue reading
WSJ: Sen. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.) says the chamber’s parliamentarian has blocked a proposal to let churches and charities engage in partisan politics, keeping it out of the final tax bill set to be unveiled Friday. The repeal of the … Continue reading
Steven Sholk has published an updated version of his very useful publication. Depending on what happens with the tax bill, he may have to write a whole new guide in January. … Continue reading
Ellen in the NYT: Contributions to charities are deductible; contributions to PACs and section 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations are not. Because charities can have enormous influence on political campaigns with very little expense, many who wish to intervene in political … Continue reading
Ciara Torres-Spelliscy oped. … Continue reading
Brian Galle has posted this draft on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This Article presents the first empirical examination of giving to § 501(c)(4) organizations, which have recently become central players in U.S. politics. Although donations to a 501(c)(4) are … Continue reading