I.R.S. Denies 3 Political Advocacy Groups Tax-Exempt Status

[alp227]

Source: The New York Times

Three nonprofit advocacy groups that recruited and trained potential political candidates in the last several years have been denied tax exemption by the Internal Revenue Service.

Copies of the letters informing the groups of the decisions were heavily redacted by the I.R.S. when it released them last week, so it is impossible to know the names of the organizations involved, or which political party with which they might have been affiliated.

“You are not operated primarily to promote social welfare because your activities are primarily for the benefit of a political party and a private group of individuals, rather than the community as a whole,” the I.R.S. wrote in the letters. “Accordingly, you do not qualify for exemption.”

Word of the decisions has been circulating this week, especially among lawyers who advise these types of nonprofits because they have become more prominent in political elections. The organizations had been created as a type of nonprofit — known as a 501(c)4 for the section of the tax code that governs it. “I don’t know that you can read a message into these decisions, but the fact that they’re landing now, just as interest in these types of organizations is heating up again, is causing them to get a lot more attention than they normally would,” said Marcus S. Owens, a lawyer who used to run the division of the I.R.S. that oversees all nonprofit groups.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/20/business/irs-denies-3-political-advocacy-groups-tax-exempt-status.html

[ixion]

1. "for the benefit of a political party and a private group of individuals"

That can be said of just about ANY xian church.

[jwirr]

2. NOT ANY. SOME.

[ixion]

3. mmm... I would say most, at the least

very few operate for the actual good of the community. Certainly no mainstream xian church operates for that reason.

[jwirr]

6. I am 70 years old this year. Until the 70s I do not remember churches

that did not support the separation of church and state. These churches were the mainstream churches that have been in this country from the start and did not want to repeat the religious wars of Europe many of them had fled from.

What are called rw churches are a result of jerry falwell, and a collection of pentecostal cults that were mostly located in south that have infiltrated many of those mainstream churches. I do not remember any churches being involved in politics before the 70s with the exception of the Quakers who seemed to come down on the liberal side every time - anti-slavery, supporting Native American, women's rights, etc.

[ixion]

7. Yeah, I would agree that several decades ago churches were more a part of the community

although it would still be arguable that they didn't serve the community at large, since they were often very, very critical of people who weren't xian.

You could say that about anything, though: Hospitals, doctors, banks, utilities, and so on.

And I would also agree that it is no longer that way at all. The aforementioned are now in place to fleece the community rather than supporting it.

[Downwinder]

8. I can remember sitting in a Baptist Church in Tucson Arizona,

during the Kennedy campaign and hearing a very partisan political sermon.

[jwirr]

9. Now with the Baptist Church that does not surprise me. Our local

Baptist Church was one house from our house. My grandmother and I were setting out on our big porch one Sunday morning when all hell broke loose. Church was over and people came out fighting mad at each other because apparently the preacher had talked about the sheep and the goats. They were all arguing about which they were. Screaming mad and accusing each other.

One of the reasons the Baptist Church had some troubles then is that they are not a corporate (?) church so each congregation and its minister can come up with their own theology. That is why it has been so easy for them to be taken over by rw preachers.

I am sure there have always been individual ministers who do break with church tradition but for the most part protestant and even Catholic churches supported separation of church and state for many decades in our history. Until the late 70s. May have started in the 60s when democrats supported equality issues and abortion but it was not so blatant until late 70s when the tv preachers started leading the parade.

[kestrel91316]

4. I can pretty much guarantee you that none of these groups are fundie churches.

IOKIYAR.

[fascisthunter]

5. right wing government