'527's (MoveOn PAC) v. '503's'

[Maat]

I find it most ironic that those Republicans who state that it is inappropriate that we utilize our 527's fully to issue-advocate, are the same ones who want a preacher to be able to endorse Bush and keep his church's tax exemption. 527's, such as MoveOn, were created to enable issue advocacy -- the key was that donors could not deduct the gift. Church's were restricted even more -- the IRS 503's -- because donations to the congregation could be deducted. So, let me see, the Repukes are pushing H.R. 235 so that the church can issue advocate and endorce/put the kabash on a candidate, and that donation is tax-exempted -- the dollars that funded that -- but dollars to the 527 -- that can't be tax-deducted - and the ones, coincidentally that are doing well for Democrats -- can't even have an employee who used to work for John Kerry working for them, or they are in violation of McCain-Feingold, and they cannot even mention a candidate's name -- and are accused of coordinating with the Kerry campaign -- and the Republican-controlled FEC is going to block them. Churchs, however, like the Southern Baptist fundies, can state that Kerry is not a good candidate -- and I have to pay for it (via tax subsidies). What hypocrisy! End-of-rant.

[sonias]

1. I agree with your rant LawStudentMom

The Southern Baptists are very political, even holding fundraisers for repukes in their places of business (what they call churches). They gave up helping the poor in any substantial sense a long time ago, so I'm not sure why they get a tax exemption. I think they have just become businesses. I think we need to tax churches that engage in their kind of behavior which is essentially money laundering and lobbying for the repukes.

Sonia

[Maat]

2. Yes, thank you.

The bummer of it is that my in-laws, who used to be the greatest people in the World in my book, fair-minded, etc. Then they followed Hubby's sister back to Oklahoma; all of them became Southern Baptist. I did a lot of religious exploration, found a liberal church for me, and while researching, found out how badly the SBC abuses the system. They had an anti-Kerry piece on their site and I wanted to report them -- to have their tax exemption possibly taken away -- since they are supposed to be a 503 -- but my husband stopped me. But it's such a farce! Apparently, they can get away with specifically mentioning a candidate -- even before their little H.R. 235 passes -- but our 527 is being attacked as 'a criminal enterprise' by a certain conservative website. Go figure!