It is very difficult to create rules that accurately trace political spending back to original sources in a multi-purpose organization. How far back do you go? Do you count the dollars first-in first-out or last-in first-out? Do you allocate the spending proportionately over all the donors? Do you let the organization say that the money came from investments, T-shirt sales, and small donors, and not from any big donors?
The danger is that those who paid with no idea that their dues or gifts would be used for politics will get disclosed, losing their privacy, and others who gave with a wink will not.
Therefore, I believe Congress should put its foot down and amend the Internal Revenue Code so that an organization with a good, qualifying nonprofit purpose has a very tight limit on how much political activity the IRS will tolerate. This language would do it:…