 |
|
Blog
|
|
Welcome to the Holtzman Vogel Law Blog. We aim to keep you
up to date on important legal developments and other items of interest. On this
blog, we'll track developments in the news and changes to the rules and regulations
affecting political committees, corporate PACs, trade associations, non-profit groups
and advocacy organizations. We'll also keep you updated on the lobbying and ethics
arena. The Law Blog is designed to supplement our regular newsletter.
On behalf of the Holtzman Vogel team, I hope you find this site helpful and interesting.
And we hope you'll become a regular visitor. (If you'd like to receive our newsletter,
please click here to sign up.)
Jill Holtzman Vogel
|
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Wash. Times: Pastor tests IRS by endorsing candidate; Hopes to undo tax code rule
The Washington Times reports "Rev. H. Wayne Williams, pastor of Liberty Baptist Tabernacle in Rapid City, last month endorsed GOP state Sen. Gordon Howie in the South Dakota governor's race, in defiance of the Internal Revenue Service and a federal court ruling and in hopes of producing a landmark constitutional test case....The ban on political campaign activity does not restrict leaders of organizations from expressing their views on political matters if they are speaking for themselves as individuals. Nor are leaders prohibited from speaking about issues of public policy. However, for their organizations to remain tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3), leaders cannot make partisan comments in official organization publications or at official functions of the organization."
Click here to read the entire post.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
OMB Watch: Americans United Files IRS Complaint Against L.A. Church for Electioneering Through Social Media
OMB Watch has this piece on a recent complaint filed with the IRS against a church that encouraged its members to vote for a specific candidate: "Americans United for the Separation of Church and State filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service against Oasis Church in Los Angeles. Americans United alleges that the church encouraged visitors to its website and followers on Twitter to support a specific political candidate. According to the complaint, one of the messages on the website said, "Our very own Alex Jones-Moreno, Director of Social Justice, is running for reelection. We are asking everyone who attends, serves, gives or is a part of Oasis Church to please cast your vote for Alex Jones-Moreno during the upcoming elections.'"
Click here to read the entire post.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
WSJ op-ed: The IRS Cracks Down on Small Charities
The Wall Street Journal has this op-ed on the just-passed May 17 "deadline for charities with annual revenues of less than $25,000 to file Form 990 with the IRS....Until now, the smallest charities did not have to file 990s. But thanks to a seemingly minor provision of the 2006 Pension Protection Act, more than 400,000 additional nonprofits—nearly half of public charities registered with the IRS—now have to do so. If not, the IRS will take steps to revoke their tax-exempt status."
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
USA Today: Technology, social networking transforms giving
From USA Today: "The success of the Red Cross text-messaging program is part of a potentially dramatic shift in the way charities and non-profit groups organize and raise money. They are experimenting with smart phone applications, social media such as Twitter and Facebook and other emerging technology. Some are finding younger, first-time donors who are more likely to give via messaging or Facebook than by writing a check after opening a traditional solicitation delivered to a mailbox outside their door."
Click here to read the entire post.
Monday, March 01, 2010
NYT Opines on C Street House
The New York Times has this editorial on the C Street House and the recent complaint filed with the IRS regarding its tax exempt status (noted here). One line of the editorial was attention-grabbing: "The coalition [that filed the complaint] is rightly concerned that the center is exploiting, and thereby cheapening, the constitutional protections guaranteed legitimate religious institutions." Constitutional protections? Tax exempt status for religious institutions is not a constitutional guarantee - it is granted by statute.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Wash. Post: C Street house target of clergy's IRS complaint
From the Washington Post: "The owners of a $1.8 million townhouse on Capitol Hill that has been home and refuge to conservative members of Congress are wrongly claiming a federal tax exemption reserved for religious establishments, 13 Ohio clergy members contend in a complaint to the Internal Revenue Service....The Ohio clergy, all Protestant members of Clergy Voice, say that the house serves no public interest and has no recognized creed or form of worship....The letter to the IRS will be sent Tuesday, said the Rev. Eric Williams, senior pastor at North Congregational United Church of Christ in Columbus. He called it a matter of church-and-state separation, with this a potential example of undue church influence on government through members of Congress."
Click here to read the entire post.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Huff. Post: Why Religious Groups and Charities May Soon Be Able to Lobby, Campaign, and Endorse Candidates
Seth Korman writes at Huffington Post, "Both for-profit corporations and nonprofit 501(c)(3)s are creatures of the state, artificial entities created to further commercial and socially valuable interests. Yet now the former can lobby and advocate, whereas the latter must remain on the political sidelines. This distinction seems ripe for challenge."
Click here to read the entire post.
Monday, February 01, 2010
WSJ: Mergers, Closings Plague Charities
The Wall Street Journal reports "The once-booming nonprofit sector is in the midst of a shakeout, leaving many Americans without services and culling weak groups from the strong. Hit by a drop in donations and government funding in the wake of a deep recession, nonprofits—from arts councils to food banks—are undergoing a painful restructuring, including mergers, acquisitions, collaborations, cutbacks and closings. . . . But longer term, say many nonprofits, the decline in donations to charities appears likely to continue. The sector's difficulties are re-awakening a touchy debate among some leaders in the nonprofit world over whether the economic prosperity of the past few decades has spawned an excess of nonprofits."
Click here to read the entire post.
Sunday, December 06, 2009
New York Times on the Growing Number of Public Charities
The New York Times has this article on the growing number of public charities, but the focus of the article is the "lost tax revenue" that charitable donations cause the federal government. From the article, "The number of organizations that can offer their donors a tax break in the name of charity has grown more than 60 percent in the United States, to 1.1 million, in just a decade. Experts say nonprofits are skillfully exploiting the tax code’s broad and elastic definition of what constitutes such a charity, making it difficult for the Internal Revenue Service, which must bless them, to say no. The agency approved 99 percent of the applications for public charity status last year, according to a new study by students at Stanford University — or more than one every 10 to 15 minutes. . . . The $300 billion donated to charities last year cost the federal government more than $50 billion in lost tax revenue."
And at least one member of Congress, Representative Xavier Becerra, a Democrat from California, apparently misses those tax dollars: "“Especially during these tough economic times, it’s troubling to hear we are increasing the number of these organizations at such a rapid pace."
Click here to read the entire post.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Washington Post: Groups Push to End Hiring Bias Legalized for Religious Charities
Liberal interest groups are pushing the Obama Administration to rescind a Bush Era policy allowing religious charities that only employ people who actually share their religous beliefs to still receive federal funding. The Post reports "The groups signing the letter include the Anti-Defamation League, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and the NAACP. It asks the Justice Department to withdraw a legal finding that they say stands as 'one of the most notable examples of the Bush administration's attempt to impose a constitutionally questionable and unwise policy.'"
Click here to read the entire post.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Bopp Challenges IRS Rules Regarding "Political Intervention" by Tax-Exempt 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) Organizations
Jim Bopp has filed two new lawsuits challenging IRS regulations that place restrictions on tax-exempt 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organization's "political intervention."
Click here to read the entire post.
Monday, April 06, 2009
Wall Street Journal: IRS Probes Nonprofit Pay Practices
The WSJ reports "An Internal Revenue Service official warned nonprofits to be mindful of executive-compensation practices amid public ire over large bonuses at insurer American International Group Inc. and other Wall Street firms that have received federal aid. Lois Lerner, the IRS's director of tax-exempt organizations, told a gathering of lawyers representing charities Monday that scrutiny of nonprofits' pay practices is likely to increase. Nonprofit leaders should be sure to practice due diligence in making sure their executive pay can be justified through data on comparable practices at similar organizations, she said."
Click here to read the entire post.
Monday, April 06, 2009
Washington Times: Barton's foundation not so charitable
From the Washington Times: "The top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee operates a tax-exempt foundation that has raised donations from the industries his committee oversees, while giving less than a quarter of the foundation's money to charitable causes, tax records show. . . . In recent months, Mr. Barton and his foundation have been trying to fulfill their charitable pledges by taking credit when companies give directly to community groups in the foundation's name - essentially bypassing a 2007 congressional requirement that donations from lobbying interests to lawmakers' charities be disclosed."
Click here to read the entire post.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
CNN: Nonprofits expect permanent damage from recession
From CNN: "U.S. nonprofits are straining under the weight of the recession, with many expecting to sustain permanent financial damage, a survey shows."
Click here to read the entire post.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
New Report Published By OMB Watch: How Nonprofits Helped America Vote: 2008
The report catalogs how liberal advocacy organizations worked to register voters, get-out-the-vote, and undermine voter ID laws. From the Report's Introduction: "The report describes how nonprofits strived to make the election process seamless from state to state and promoted fair environments for constituents to vote in the 2008 election."
Click here to read the entire post.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
AP: Senator proposes nonprofit status for newspapers
The AP reports that Senator Cardin of Maryland has proposed allowing newspapers to elect tax-exempt status. If they were to do so, they would apparently give up the right to make political endorsements.
Click here to read the entire post.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
New York Times: Charities Give to State Campaigns, Despite Law
From the New York Times: "For more than half a century, charities have been barred by federal law from making contributions to political campaigns. But the news does not seem to have reached Albany. A review of campaign-finance and federal tax records shows that at least 81 tax-exempt charities have given contributions to legislative candidates since 2005, with some organizations giving more than once to multiple candidates. While the amounts were not eye-popping, the contributions often flowed to lawmakers who helped the charities secure state money."
Click here to read the entire post.
Monday, March 09, 2009
CQ Politics: Nonprofits Wield Some Serious Campaign Cash
This CQ Politics article discusses the purported rise of 501(c) organizations, and the decline of 527 organizations, in the political arena.
Click here to read the entire post.
Monday, March 02, 2009
AFL-CIO and Change to Win File IRS Complaints
The AFL-CIO and Change to Win filed a complaint with the IRS charging two 501(c)(3) organizations with improperly engaging in political activity during the 2008 election. Coincidentally, the two groups have opposed "check card" legislation supported by the AFL-CIO and Change to Win.
Click here to read the entire post.
|
 |