Is the Ban on Participation Campaigns by Charities Essential to their Vitality and Democracy?
Is the Ban on Participation Campaigns by Charities Essential to their Vitality and Democracy? A Reply to Professor Tobin
Johnny Rex Buckles, 42 U. Rich. L. Rev. 1057 (2008)
Notwithstanding that transgressions of the ban on participation in electoral politics have been reported for decades, often with no apparent adverse tax consequences to offending institutions, a charitable entity operating today cannot afford to dismiss the hazards of supporting or opposing candidates for public office. Charitable institutions are facing heightened scrutiny by the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), the agency responsible for enforcing the ban. Headlines in leading news media reveal the seriousness with which the IRS is pursuing its enforcement mandate, in part through its recent and ongoing compliance initiative. Charitable institutions and their legal advisors need not question whether the ban is real; it is. The question is whether the ban is justified.