Category Archives: tax law and election law
“Koch brothers’ plight likened to that of civil rights workers in the 1950s”
“Court Documents Show The IRS Focused Scrutiny On Conservative Groups”
Peter Overby for NPR:
Until now, what’s been missing is a list of the nonprofit groups that got special scrutiny — a list that presumably would show whether the agency had a political agenda or not.
Now, thanks to filings … Continue reading
“The First Amendment and a phony foreign threat”
Brad Smith in The Hill:
Those opposed to free speech are once again threatening to use the Internal Revenue Code and the IRS to chill First Amendment freedoms. This time they raise the imaginary specter of election involvement by “foreigners.”… Continue reading
“CREW Files Criminal, IRS Complaints Against 10 Dark Money Groups”
“Outside spending breaks $400 million mark, far outpacing 2012”
From the indispensable Open Secrets:
Outside groups have now spent more than $400 million to influence elections this cycle, data collected from the Federal Election Commission show, a figure that dwarfs the amount spent by this point in the 2012… Continue reading
“House approves Koch-backed bill to shield donors’ names”
Fredreka Schouten for USA Today:
The House approved a bill Tuesday that would bar the IRS from collecting the names of donors to tax-exempt groups, prompting warnings from campaign-finance watchdogs that it could lead to foreign interests illegally infiltrating American… Continue reading
“Reform Groups Urge Representatives to Oppose Bill That Would Open Loophole for Foreign Money”
“Koch Group Cross-Appeals in California Donor Data Case”
Bloomberg BNA:
A conservative nonprofit backed by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch filed a Ninth Circuit appeal in its case against California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris (D) over the nondisclosure of identifying information for the group’s major… Continue reading
“Rubio says identity of person who gave $13.5 million to group supporting him is ‘irrelevant'”
Nothing to see here folks. Keep moving.
“Bill to cloak U.S. ‘dark money’ seen as harmful to charity fraud fight”
“Champion free speech by preventing IRS abuse: Column”
Brad Smith in USA Today.
Not Sure NYT OpEd Correction on Corporate Political Spending is Correct
On May 11 I wrote:
Yesterday I flagged this NYT oped by Kathleen Donovan-Maher and Steven Groopman, “Why Dark Money is Bad Business.”
The second sentence reads: “So far two-thirds of election dollars have largely come from anonymous corporate donations,… Continue reading
“After Citizens United, a surge in ‘dark money’ groups”
MapLight:
In 1939, the Internal Revenue Service granted tax-exempt status to a group that had been active in New York City politics for years. The agency determined that The Citizens Union of the City of New York earned its… Continue reading