[CNSNEWS] Calling the tax-exempt status of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) a "charade," Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) said it should not qualify for 501(c)(4) status with the Internal Revenue Service, because it is not a social welfare group but political in nature.
"It's everybody's right to participate in politics, and well you should," Blumenauer said on Tuesday at the House Boodle Central hearing into allegations that the IRS targeted conservative organizations, including NOM. "But I think having organizations parading as being social welfare organizations and then being involved in political combat harkens back to why the (IRS 501(c)(4) statute -- a hundred years ago -- said that they were prohibited, and I wholeheartedly agree."
Citing Rep. Lloyd Doggett's (D-Texas) remarks that the statute should be reinterpreted to restrict political activities of 501(c)(4) groups, Blumenauer said the current law "invites people to raise vast sums of money and keep it secret and to engage in political activity." |