There was a simple way to clear that logjam: All any group had to do to be granted tax-exempt status as a social welfare nonprofit under section 501(c)4 of the U.S. tax code was to swear that it was, in fact, primarily engaged in social welfare work. To make it easy, the IRS decided that groups had to pledge they would confine their political activity to less than 40 percent of their work. Several dozen did so, but 19 declined, Koskinen said. What that suggests to proponents of increased campaign finance disclosure is that such groups are less interested in pursuing social welfare and more interested in pursuing partisan politics -- while keeping their donors hidden. It says the same thing as the fact that so many of these organizations swore under oath that they wouldnt do things that were political at the same time that they were spending millions of dollars on advertisements, said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.). There was a lot of dishonesty in what was told to the government about what the purpose of these organizations was, he said.
Posted on: Fri, 28 Mar 2014 02:23:41 +0000