[Vision2020] Change in tax bill opens doors to nonprofit politicing

[Ron Force]

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/republicans-take-church-politicking-bill-radical-direction
Republicans take church politicking bill in a radical direction
11/13/17 12:53 PM
By Steve Benen <http://www.msnbc.com/byline/steve-benen>

Since before last year’s election, Donald Trump has promised the religious
right he’d deliver on one of the movement’s top priorities: allowing houses
of worship to engage in partisan activities without fear of losing their
tax-exempt status. To that end, Republican legislation to change federal
tax law has slowly been working its way
<http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/church-politicking-measure-advances-creating-unintended-risks>
through
Capitol Hill this year.

But that bill may not be necessary. GOP policymakers have also included
repeal of the Johnson Amendment, the tax law provision that prohibits
church politicking, in the Republican tax plan
<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/04/us/politics/tax-bill-unborn-children.html>.
As a strategic matter, this makes sense: the proposed tax cuts aren’t
especially popular, so it stands to reason GOP officials would try to
generate some support from their Christian conservative allies.

Late last week, however, *The Hill* noted that House Ways and Means
Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) made some changes
<http://thehill.com/policy/finance/359648-brady-managers-amendment-preserving-adoption-tax-credit>
to
the tax plan, including one big one related to non-profits and political
activities.

Under the amendment, churches and other nonprofits with 501(c)(3)
tax-exempt status would be able to engage in political speech from 2019 to
2023. The initial bill would not have had a sunset date but would have only
applied to houses of worship, rather than all 501(c)(3) organizations.

Let’s unpack this a bit. Under current law, tax-exempt houses of worship
that engage in partisan political activities risk losing their tax
exemption. Under the initial Republican plan, the law would be changed to
allow ministries to intervene in elections and keep their tax-exempt status
anyway.

Under the latest GOP proposal, which passed the House Ways and Means
Committee on Thursday, *all*tax-exempt groups – houses of worship,
universities and other educational organizations, charities, publications,
etc. – could engage in partisan politicking without fear of punishment from
the IRS.

In other words, *every* U.S. non-profit that is now, by law, non-partisan
could start endorsing candidates, aligning with super PACs, contributing to
political parties, etc.

Faced with a controversy over their efforts to repeal the Johnson
Amendment, Republicans managed to make their effort quite a bit more
radical.

And why should anyone care whether every tax-exempt entity starts getting
involved in partisan politics? Because as we discussed
<http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/church-politicking-measure-advances-creating-unintended-risks>
over
the summer, the consequences have the potential to be dramatic.

Imagine the campaign-finance mess that would exist if parties, candidates,
and PACs could funnel campaign donations through tax-exempt entities, free
of oversight.

For that matter, imagine if a foreign government, eager to secretly help
put a specific candidate in power, decided to start funneling money to
specific non-profit organizations – including churches – knowing that those
entities would in turn use the resources to support that candidate. The
501(c)3 groups would never have to disclose any of this, and the public
would be kept in the dark.

The GOP proposal fixes a problem that doesn’t exist. There’s no public
demand
<https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/most-people-and-perhaps-most-clergy-dont-want-political-endorsements-in-church/>
for
such a change, and there’s no reason to create this campaign-finance
nightmare.

Ron Force
Moscow Idaho USA
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