Wow, this is not the way for the IRS to maintain credibility in a very politically sensitive area: “Lois Lerner, who heads the IRS unit that oversees tax-exempt groups, said organizations that included the words ‘tea party’ or ‘patriot’ in … Continue reading
Category Archives: tax law and election law
This item appears at PR Watch. … Continue reading
Andy Kroll writes. … Continue reading
LAT: Early last month, state lawyers and election officials around the country dialed into a conference call to talk about how to deal with the flood of secret money that played an unprecedented role in the 2012 election. The discussion, … Continue reading
Release: In a letter sent today, reform groups urged Senators and Representatives “to pass campaign finance disclosure legislation this year to close the gaping disclosure loopholes in the campaign finance laws. These loopholes resulted in more than $300 million in … Continue reading
This item appears at PR Watch. … Continue reading
Bloomberg BNA: “The Internal Revenue Service is testing in fiscal year 2013 new indicators on Form 990, Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax, to check if charities are engaging in impermissible campaign activity, the agency’s top exempt organizations enforcement … Continue reading
Bloomberg BNA: “A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has set a court hearing for June 25 to hear arguments about whether to allow a lawsuit charging that the Internal Revenue Service has failed to enforce federal tax laws restricting political … Continue reading
NYT: “A loose coalition of Democratic elected officials, shareholder activists and pension funds has flooded the Securities and Exchange Commission with calls to require publicly traded corporations to disclose to shareholders all of their political donations, a move that could … Continue reading
Today at 2 pm eastern the Center for Responsive Politics has Peter Overby, Ellen Aprill, Paul Ryan, Robert McGuire, and Viveca Novak. Tune in! … Continue reading
Eliza Newlin Carney for CQ Weekly (behind paywall): Organizing for Action, President Barack Obama ’s advocacy group, is on the spot as liberal activists denounce his plan to trim Social Security benefits. Progressive leaders are already deeply divided over the … Continue reading
Bloomberg BNA: “One of retiring Sen. Carl Levin’s (D-Mich.) last objectives in Congress will be to investigate the use of secret money to fund political campaigns, with the Internal Revenue Service on the hot seat.” … Continue reading
Andy Kroll reports for Mother Jones. … Continue reading
USA Today: President Obama’s new advocacy organization collected roughly $4.8 million during the first three months of the year, the group announced Friday. “In just the first few months of this brand-new organization, 109,582 supporters stepped up and invested in … Continue reading
Roll Call’s “Political Moneyline” reports. … Continue reading
Nonprofit Law Prof Blog: “hn L. Buckley, a professor in the graduate tax program at Georgetown University Law Center, and Dallas Woodrum, a Georgetown law student serving as executive articles editor for The Georgetown Law Journal, have published an article in … Continue reading
Politico reports. … Continue reading
CPI: “The Democratic and Republican governors’ associations are increasingly relying on nonprofit affiliates to get their candidates elected and influence ballot initiatives, a move that allows them to avoid disclosing the identity of their donors.” … Continue reading
CPI reports. … Continue reading
Very interesting to watch Colbert go from a faux candidate using his show to promote a faux candidacy to a faux conservative blowhard using his show to promote his sister’s real candidacy against Mark Sanford in the South Carolina special … Continue reading
WaPo reports. … Continue reading
AFJ blogs. … Continue reading
Here. … Continue reading
NYT on OFA: In addition to the previously reported “board of trustees” whose members are expected to raise at least $500,000, it turns out there is an even higher tier of donors who are granted entree to the board of … Continue reading
Bloomberg BNA: “Dozens of attorneys have written to the Internal Revenue Service saying they are gravely concerned about the disclosure of confidential taxpayer information from tax code Section 501(c)(4) applications for exemption and unredacted tax returns that were given to … Continue reading
Aaron Blake reports. … Continue reading
CPI: “President Barack Obama’s new nonprofit advocacy group wants to know what its donors do professionally and for whom they work. But don’t expect to ever see the information.” … Continue reading
Bloomberg reports. … Continue reading
Here. … Continue reading
NYT / OFA. … Continue reading
Here, in the Washington Times. … Continue reading
Mother Jones report, with the subhead: “How did the chair of the House ethics committee end up on a corporate-backed African safari? Meet the shadowy nonprofit that throws some of DC’s finest junkets.” … Continue reading
John Carson of OFA has this response to a USA Today editorial, “Pro-Obama Group Follows GOP’s Sleazy Path.” … Continue reading
Press release: “In a letter sent today to President Obama, Democracy 21, joined by the Campaign Legal Center, wrote that ‘your involvement with Organizing for Action (OFA) raises serious questions about whether you are complying with the Ethics in Government … Continue reading
Bloomberg: “President Barack Obama’s dinner tonight with top donors resembles dozens of his campaign events, with gourmet meals served on hotel china and a high price of admission. Yet without the urgency of an election, many reliable Democratic fundraisers are … Continue reading
Eric Wang: “Last month, just as financial institutions finished sending out the alphanumeric soup of IRS forms to Americans to file their tax returns, a group known as Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) sued the taxman. Ordinarily, … Continue reading
The Hill reports. … Continue reading
Eliza’s latest. … Continue reading
WaPo reports. … Continue reading
AFJ press release. … Continue reading
Watch. … Continue reading
Read David Firestone on OFA and improper influence over the executive branch. … Continue reading
Jim Messina CNN oped: “While Organizing for Action is a nonprofit social welfare organization that faces a lower disclosure threshold than a political campaign, we believe in being open and transparent. That’s why every donor who gives $250 or more … Continue reading
AP reports on OFA etc. See also editorials from NYT, WaPo. … Continue reading
Nonprofit Law Prof Blog: “When does improper campaign intervention become a crime? At the least, there has to be an instance of campaign intervention. But is that all? According to a federal information to which the defendant is set to … Continue reading
Front-page NYT: “Giving or raising $500,000 or more puts donors on a national advisory board for Mr. Obama’s group and the privilege of attending quarterly meetings with the president, along with other meetings at the White House. Moreover, the new … Continue reading
WaPo: “The advocacy group started by President Obama’s former campaign officials began its first advertising campaign on Friday, pressuring 13 Republican lawmakers in their home states to expand background checks to all gun buyers.” … Continue reading
Interesting Politico report. … Continue reading
Eliza has the details. … Continue reading
That’s the charge in the Weekly Standard. (They also raise an IRS claim, which seems not to fly given what everyone else is doing.) … Continue reading