Since the Citizens United court ruling, the IRS has been left to sort out the mess left in it's wake, a mess made even deeper when Karl Rove decided to create CrossroadsAmericaGPS, his super-pac for influencing elections. After the Court ruling, Rove decided he could claim his organization was actually a social welfare organization and claim tax exempt status while shielding the names of his investors. It worked and other super-pac's followed suit.
The problem if that it leaves the IRS in the position of determining just what a social welfare organization is, as opposed to a political organization. That's a role the IRS neither wants nor is equipped to handle.
" ..And anyone who has worked in politics, on the left or the right, or in nonprofits, knows that there has been a genuinely important separation in tax law based on that distinctionare you doing campaigning? Or are you on this other side, the social welfare side?
And then the Supreme Courts decision in Citizens United came along and blew up that distinction. Citizens United said, essentially, that any organization of any kind can spend money out of its general treasury to run political ads.*And that decision brought about a pivotal moment for politics and taxes and campaign spending in this country.*Karl Rove looked at this ruling and said hey wait a second, maybe I wanna make a social welfare organization. A social welfare organization that also happens to lots of ads during campaign season. Ya know, as part of bettering the community and stuff. Ads like these from Crossroads GPS "
Two IRS scandals hit Washington: One you?ve heard of, one you haven?t ? MSNBC
The problem if that it leaves the IRS in the position of determining just what a social welfare organization is, as opposed to a political organization. That's a role the IRS neither wants nor is equipped to handle.
" ..And anyone who has worked in politics, on the left or the right, or in nonprofits, knows that there has been a genuinely important separation in tax law based on that distinctionare you doing campaigning? Or are you on this other side, the social welfare side?
And then the Supreme Courts decision in Citizens United came along and blew up that distinction. Citizens United said, essentially, that any organization of any kind can spend money out of its general treasury to run political ads.*And that decision brought about a pivotal moment for politics and taxes and campaign spending in this country.*Karl Rove looked at this ruling and said hey wait a second, maybe I wanna make a social welfare organization. A social welfare organization that also happens to lots of ads during campaign season. Ya know, as part of bettering the community and stuff. Ads like these from Crossroads GPS "
Two IRS scandals hit Washington: One you?ve heard of, one you haven?t ? MSNBC
