According to the 11th District Court of Appeals (which is now rivalling the 9th for wrong opinions), non-profit organizations must choose between free speech and being untaxed. If they wish to engage in untrammelled free speech, it will cost them -- certainly a new meaning of the word "free."
A federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld a law requiring some nonprofit political groups to report contributions and expenditures to the I.R.S., saying the Constitution does not guarantee what amounts to a tax subsidy.Another boxcar on the train... Posted by Kevin Murphy at December 24, 2003 11:37 PM | TrackBack
The decision, by a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, reverses a Mobile federal judge's ruling last year that requiring such groups to report income and expenses unconstitutionally restricts free speech...
The law, which took effect on July 1, 2001, requires all groups given tax-exempt status under Section 527 of the tax code to disclose their officers, address and other identifying information, along with donor names, size of donations and expenditures....
"Congress has enacted no barrier to the exercise" of the political groups' constitutional rights, it said. "Rather, Congress has established certain requirements that must be followed in order to claim the benefit of a public tax subsidy."
So has Rainbow Push filed these reports?
Posted by: John Jorsett at December 25, 2003 08:30 AM