Roll Call: “The former head of the IRS’ Exempt Organizations division accused the conservative nonprofit American Legislative Exchange Council of lying about its assets in its federal tax filings in a letter sent to the agency Wednesday.” … Continue reading
Category Archives: tax law and election law
ProPublica: “A western nonprofit that played a key role in freeing corporate spending on elections nationwide appears to have misled the IRS when it applied for the tax-exempt status that shields its donors from being publicly disclosed. Documents obtained by … Continue reading
Center for Public Integrity: “Voters haven’t had a clue who is behind American Tradition Partnership — the Colorado-based group pushing to rewrite Montana’s campaign finance laws — and that’s just the way the secretive nonprofit wants it. A 2010 fundraising … Continue reading
The LA Times reports. “As of Saturday, outside groups — many fueled by seven-figure donations from wealthy contributors — reported having pumped at least $675 million into political ads and other forms of voter outreach in 2012 federal elections. That’s … Continue reading
The Senate and House is where to watch the Super PAC and 501c money now. … Continue reading
Roll Call: “Americans for Prosperity is busing hundreds of out-of-state conservative activists to the country’s most contested political battlegrounds….Delivering partisans to competitive states in the final weeks of a campaign is hardly a unique strategy, but the extent of AFP’s … Continue reading
Politico: “The reason is clear: Conservative super PACs and outside groups face the very real possibility they’ll have spent $1 billion and failed to elect Mitt Romney or deliver a GOP Senate. That means professional political types could have a … Continue reading
The Center for Public Integrity reports. … Continue reading
Bloomberg BNA: “The Federal Election Commission deadlocked on a legal ruling about whether a nonprofit corporation can engage in joint fund-raising activity with FEC-regulated political action committees, including a so-called Super PAC.” … Continue reading
NPR: “Since April, more than 825,000 presidential campaign ads have been broadcast in the battleground states. Oddly, the dominant Republican voice on TV hasn’t been that of nominee Mitt Romney. The big advertisers are four heavily funded SuperPacs and tax-exempt … Continue reading
Politico reports. … Continue reading
This piece is much more temperate than then earlier attacks on Jim from Common Cause and others. It seems to raise some reasonable questions under the tax code, but it is far from my area of expertise so it is … Continue reading
“At best the rules are opaque, and at worst they’re misleading” –Loyola Law professor Ellen Aprill, quoted in the Wall St. Journal’s Is Your Political Donation Deductible? … Continue reading
This item appears atU.S. News and World Report. … Continue reading
See this press release. … Continue reading
Dark Money Organizations Change Strategies to Keep Donors Secret Outside groups spending millions on state level elections, ballot initiatives … Continue reading
This item appears at Nonprofit Law Matters. … Continue reading
Campaign Finance Most Companies Do Not Reveal Funding For 501(c)(4), Trade Groups, Study Says While voluntary corporate disclosure of direct political spending is becoming more common, relatively few companies disclose their contributions to outside groups that may be involved in … Continue reading
Back on August 7, Americans for Prosperity told the New York Times that it was shifting from running issue ads to express advocacy because of a need to emphasize the message: This campaign is the first time the group has … Continue reading
See this item. If one is to fib, it might be better to claim contributions to 501c4s, which are not disclosing their contributors on election-related activity. … Continue reading
Mike Allen reports for Politico.“Worth just over $21 billion and now in the cross hairs of the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission, Adelson has made history: He is the first person to spend $70 million to sway … Continue reading
Bloomberg BNA: “The Internal Revenue Service is examining more than 70 tax code Section 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations, some to determine if social welfare is indeed their primary purpose, according to letters to and from IRS released Sept. 19 by … Continue reading
You can find the unanimous opinion of the DC Circuit here. See this story from the LA Times: “The panel chided the FEC for not clearly dealing with the changes in the law or defending its stance in court. But … Continue reading
Bloomberg BNA: “Tax-exempt practitioners looking for new answers to big questions about how their clients should handle political involvement in the run-up to the November election did not get them at the American Bar Association Section of Taxation and Section … Continue reading
Peter Overby reports for NPR. … Continue reading
Great reporting in this ProPublica report by Justin Elliott. … Continue reading
Reuters reports. … Continue reading
Public Citizen has issued this press release. … Continue reading
Jewish Daily Forward editorial on 501c4s. … Continue reading
This article originally appeared in the Arizona Republic. … Continue reading
Today’s must read from Bloomberg: This rare look at the mechanics of SuperPac fundraising and electoral strategy was likely not intended for reporters. I was invited as the guest of a financier who is a significant Republican donor. The financier … Continue reading
NPR on disclosure, electioneering communications, and express advocacy, by 501c4s like Crossroads GPS. … Continue reading
Bloomberg BNA: “The tax code offers little insight into what constitutes campaign intervention for tax-exempt organizations, a Congressional Research Service report released Aug. 30 said, with the big question being what happens when a political ad merely refers to a … Continue reading
Reprinted below with permission: From: Gregory L. Colvin Sent: Friday, August 24, 2012 3:36 PM To: ‘Lerner Lois G’ Subject: General Information Letter on 2 Issue Advocacy Revenue Rulings You’ll recall my May 7, 2012, letter suggesting that the IRS … Continue reading
This item appears at PR Watch. … Continue reading
ProPublica reports. … Continue reading
Bloomberg BNA: “The Federal Election Commission deadlocked along party lines Aug. 23 on an advisory opinion regarding fundamental issues of campaign finance law, including identifying ‘express advocacy’ messages and determining whether an organization is a ‘political committee’ subject to regulation. … Continue reading
Open Secrets reports. … Continue reading
Jane Mayer has written this article in The New Yorker. … Continue reading
ProPublica: An investigation by ProPublica, drawing on documents filed with the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Election Commission, offers the most detailed picture to date of how 501(c)(4) groups have used their tax status for purposes likely never intended. … Continue reading
Politico: “Three of the nation’s most powerful conservative groups have spent more than $30 million on direct political ads since late July, a marked shift in tactics that allows them to keep their donors secret. Americans for Prosperity, Crossroads GPS … Continue reading
Following up on this post, you can now read the CRS report at this link. … Continue reading
Bloomberg reports. … Continue reading
ProPublica: “Two conservative nonprofits, Crossroads GPS and Americans for Prosperity, have poured almost $60 million into TV ads to influence the presidential race so far, outgunning all super PACs put together, new spending estimates show. These nonprofits, also known as … Continue reading
Bloomberg BNA: “The treatment of contributions to organizations exempt from tax under tax code Section 501(c)(4) is complicated by the Internal Revenue Service’s lack of enforcement of its policy on the contributions and the possible exemption of contributions that are … Continue reading
Bloomberg BNA: “The Hispanic Leadership Fund, a Republican-leaning organization challenging Federal Election Commission disclosure requirements for political ads, has filed its case in the federal district court in Alexandria, Va., and called for an Aug. 17 court hearing (Hispanic Leadership … Continue reading
LA Times finds interesting use of a 501c4. … Continue reading
Open Secrets: “As of today, spending reported to the Federal Election Commission by groups that aren’t required to disclose the sources of their funding has nearly tripled over where it stood at the same point in the 2010 election cycle, … Continue reading
Press release via email: “In a letter sent today to the IRS, Democracy 21, joined by the Campaign Legal Center, called on the agency to ignore the partisan pressures they have received from Republican Senators and proceed to consider new … Continue reading
Capital New York reports. … Continue reading