Posted on 11/26/2013 2:44:32 PM PST by reaganaut1
The Obama administration on Tuesday moved to issue new rules that would curtail political activity by tax-exempt nonprofit groups, with potentially significant ramifications for one of the fastest-growing sources of campaign spending.
The proposed rules, announced by the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service, would expand and clarify how the I.R.S. defines political activity and then establish clearer limits for how much activity nonprofits can engage in. Such a change — long urged by government watchdog groups — would be the first wholesale shift in a generation in the regulations governing political activity.
The move to curtail nonprofits follows years of legal and regulatory shifts, such as the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling in 2010, that have steadily loosened the rules governing political spending, particularly by big corporations, labor unions and wealthy individuals.
The rules would not prohibit political activity by nonprofit organizations. But by establishing clearer limits for campaign-related spending, the new rules could have a significant impact on the big-spending nonprofit groups that have played a central role in national politics in recent years, spending hundreds of millions of dollars on political advertising and voter outreach.
The administration’s proposal would apply to nonprofit groups organized under Section 501(c)4 of the tax code, which are permitted tax exemption in exchange for devoting themselves primarily to the promotion of “social welfare,” which under current rules can include some political activity.
The largest political nonprofits — such as Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies, co-founded by Karl Rove, the Republican operative, or Americans for Prosperity, backed by the conservative philanthropists Charles and David Koch, have exploited that provision to spend heavily on election-themed advertising.
But under the proposed guidance, a broad swath of campaign-related activity — including any ads that mention a candidate within 60 days of an election
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
FYI, see #19.
I had mistakenly assumed that 501(c)4 status was the reason FR avoided taking advertising.
Very good succinct response!
.
We chose not to participate as a non-profit so the IRS cannot have control over us.
Absolutely true! Amen & Amen! Keep the leftist-socialist gubmint bastards out of our sandbox!
We deduct all business expenses. There are several reasons we don’t take advertising, but mainly I’d just rather keep it noncommercial.
.
The NYT seems to have discovered that only Republicans engage in this activity.
So basically, they’ll be allowed to talk and we won’t.
Nice.
So, instead of investigating the IRS, the answer to government corruption is MORE REPRESSION of the innocent?
Of course the IRS and Herr Obozo will not even look at the left wing non profits funded by George SoreA$$:
Organizations Funded Directly by George Soros and his Open Society Institute
By Discover The Networks
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2625790/posts
The Tea Party will lose it’s tax exempt status. The NAACP will continue to be funded by the government.
I guess Center for American Progress is exempt. Of course.
.
Black churches have historically been partisan.why has no one gone after them?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.