Frances Martel
Breitbart.com
Big Government
27 Nov 2013
With a happy Iran at the negotiating table and plenty of reasons to take the spotlight off health care, the Obama administration now seeks to tie the hands of political opponents by limiting spending by tax-exempt groups with political messages.
The Treasury and IRS announced they were currently working on adapting the tax code to limit what kinds of groups could apply for 501(c)(4) status, a category designated for political non-profits and “social welfare” groups that follow less stringent spending rules than political action committees (PACs). The Obama administration’s proposed changes to the code would prevent 501(c)(4)s from engaging in advocacy for a specific candidate and political advocacy generally, including paying for campaign ads on television. Treasury Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy Mark Mazur called the move “a first critical step toward creating clear-cut definitions of political activity by tax-exempt social welfare organizations.”…
…While the administration promises careful scrutiny of the tax code before making any large changes, President Obama’s vocal disapproval of the expressive freedoms protected by the Citizens United ruling and his administration’s targeting of opposition groups through the IRS leave little room to expect tax reforms to have anything but a chilling effect on the national political discourse.
Read the entire article at Big Government.
Related: IRS regulations may put Americans’ free speech in jeopardy, say attorneys
A public-interest law center, currently representing 41 organizations in a federal lawsuit challenging the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), said on Tuesday that the new regulations proposed by the IRS aimed at tax-exempt organizations places the free speech rights of Americans at even greater jeopardy…
…”This is a feeble attempt by the Obama Administration to justify its own wrong-doing with the IRS targeting of conservative and Tea Party groups. Instead of holding those responsible for the unlawful targeting scheme accountable for their actions, the Obama Administration is determined to further limit the free speech of Americans by attempting to change constitutional practices that are decades old. With this move, the Obama Administration opens a new front in its war against political dissent. We will file comments with the IRS opposing these new regulations,” Sekulow said…
See the President’s Alleged Handwritten Letter With the Quote ‘Tea Baggers’ In It
President Barack Obama allegedly told a Texas schoolteacher in a handwritten note that pursuing the Affordable Care Act was not “politically” smart, but that it was the “right” thing to do.
The president also defended the rights of so-called “tea baggers,” a derogatory term used against supporters of the Tea Party, to protest his signature health care law…
Hypocrisy alert! Sen. Whitehouse: Stop nonprofits from campaigning
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse is applauding efforts by the Obama administration to rein in the use of tax-exempt groups for political campaigning.
The effort, announced on Tuesday, is an attempt to reduce the role of loosely regulated big-money political outfits like GOP political guru Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS and the pro-Obama Priorities USA.
The Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department said they want to prohibit such groups from using “candidate-related political activity” like running ads, registering voters or distributing campaign literature as activities that qualify them to be tax-exempt “social welfare” organizations.
Whitehouse said since the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, political groups posing as “social welfare” organizations have abused their nonprofit status.
The Rhode Island Democrat said the effort unveiled Tuesday could help “crack down on the unlimited, secret spending plaguing our elections.”
