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
Category Archives: tax law and election law
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
Ellen Aprill has posted this important draft on SSRN (forthcoming University of Illinois Law Review On-Line). Here is the abstract: On November 2, 2017, the House Ways and Means Committee released its proposed tax reform legislation. It includes a provision … Continue reading
Eliza Newlin Carney: By essentially repealing the so-called Johnson Amendment, a tax provision that bars charities from engaging in partisan politics, the House legislation frees up big donors to funnel even more unlimited, undisclosed money into campaigns, and, for the … Continue reading
NYT: Among the changes in the tax bill that passed the House this month is a provision to roll back the 1954 ban, a move that is championed by the religious right, but opposed by thousands of religious and nonprofit leaders, who … Continue reading
Roger Colinvaux: If the tax bill passed by the House Ways and Means Committee becomes law, partisan politics would overtake the nonprofit world, casting institutions designed to promote the public good into the depraved den of identity politics and selfish … Continue reading
Kate Ackley for Roll Call: The House Republican tax plan would upend a longstanding measure, known as the Johnson Amendment, that prohibits politicking from the pulpit, and critics say it could turn churches into new conduits for political money. Under … Continue reading
NYT: The Justice Department settled two lawsuits with conservative groups that claimed the Internal Revenue Service had unfairly scrutinized them during applications for tax-exempt status, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced on Thursday. The government agreed to a multimillion-dollar settlement to … Continue reading
AP: Johnson has been the face of the NAACP since then as the organization has refocused its work on supporting its local chapters and tried to retool in the face of rising organizations like Black Lives Matter. Currently as a … Continue reading
Barnaby Zall here, with more details on the latest TIGTA report on IRS nonprofit screening. If you don’t know the difference between BOLOs and TAGs from the world of IRS enforcement in the area of tax-exempt entities, and why you … Continue reading
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration has another audit report released today, on the IRS screening of nonprofits for further scrutiny based on their names or perceived policies. (TIGTA also emphasizes that that IRS policy is no longer in effect.) The … Continue reading
Ed Zelinsky: The best solution is not the kind of procedural band-aid proposed by the Appropriations Committee. Congress should instead modify the Johnson Amendment to protect internal church communications from all IRS scrutiny. With churches’ rights of free expression thus … Continue reading
Ezra Reese oped: Political organizations very rarely withhold donors currently because the 35 percent tax is simply too high. A cut in that rate to 20 percent, however, would lead a number of political organizations and their donors to conclude … Continue reading
The letter is here. Some GOP lawmakers angry. Given the political heat over this, it is a good sign that at least this part of the DOJ was not subject to or able to resist political pressures to prosecute. … Continue reading