Thread: Obama's IRS

Originally Posted by -Lazarus-

Are you saying that being non-political as in not involved in politics is a requirement for a non-profit organization in this country? Just curious.

Actually it is a requirement for certain designations, Mainly the ones these Organisations are Applying for.
Hence the questions.....and Scrutiny.

United States federal tax law, specifically Section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 501(c)), exempts certain types of nonprofit organizations from having to pay federal income tax. The statutory language of IRC 501(c)(4) generally requires civic organizations described in that section to be "operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare". Treasury regulations interpreting this statutory language apply a more relaxed standard, namely, that the organization "is operated primarily for the purpose of bringing about civic betterments and social improvements."[9] As a result, the IRS traditionally has permitted organizations described in IRC 501(c)(4) to engage in lobbying and political campaign activities if those activities are not the organization's primary activity.

2013 IRS scandal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/501(c)_organization

Originally Posted by Morningfrost

No, I'm saying that if you're seeking tax-exempt status, one of the requirements is that a non-profit be mostly involved in things besides politics....that politics cannot be their main focus. The article you posted when you started this thread says as much.

So if a requirement to keep tax-exempt status is being relatively uninvolved in politics....why the fuck would you name your non-profit something out of a political handbook? Call me crazy, but if I see a company named Tea Party <whatever>, I'm going to assume they're involved in politics. If I'm the IRS and I see that, I'm going to want to take a closer look to see if politics is just a portion of what they do (which is allowable), or the majority of what they do (which is not).

~Morningfrost

Do you know how many liberal political organizations hold that tax exempt status vs. conservative ones?

Originally Posted by -Lazarus-

Do you know how many liberal political organizations hold that tax exempt status vs. conservative ones?

Do you know how many Liberal vs Conservative Organizations that hold tax exempt status, but participate fully in Campaigning and elections?

Originally Posted by Morningfrost

That's not even related to the point I was making, but no, I don't know that....nor is it relevant. My point was that one of the reasons conservative non-profits might have had more scrutiny is because they were more likely to have names that were politically motivated.

~Morningfrost

Oh it's relevant.