Reply to What happened with the separation between church and state?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Many of you are confusing "being involved and vocal on social and political issues" and "supporting a candidate"
Churches can do either or both. The former can lose them their tax exempt status. The latter can't.[/quote]

You've got that exactly backwards.  Endorsing a candidate or political party is prohibited partisan activity.  Being involved and vocal on social and political issues is not.  A church can be active against abortion, or against apartheid, or against racist government policies, or against anti-immigrant policies, or in support of universal health care or prayer in schools or environmental protections.  [/quote]

This thread is looking at this issue about tax exemption somewhat backwards.

[b]Any organization that is active in politics cannot by law be set up as a tax exempt non-profit.  [/b]That doesn't mean the organization can't facilitate discussions about political issues or even advocate for a particular position or host candidates or speakers espousing a particular point of view. [b] But the organization itself cannot explicitly endorse a candidate unless they want to lose their tax exempt status[/b].[/quote]

But liberal tax exempt organizations endorse political candidates all the time.  I am sure conservative ones do as well, but the liberal endorsements are more prominent.

For example:

The Sierra Club
https://www.sierraclub.org/california/2018-endorsements

Planned Parenthood endorsements
http://www.ppactionca.org/voter-resources/voter-guides/

[/quote]

They have separate entities that do the endorsing.  Most non-profits do.  [/quote]

Out of curiosity, I went to the Sierra Club donation link, and it states that "Contributions, donations, gifts, and dues to the Sierra Club are not tax deductible. They support our effective, citizen-based advocacy and lobbying efforts. The Sierra Club is a non-profit, tax-exempt, 501(c)(4) organization."

Ditto for the ACLU--it's a 501(c)(4) organization engaged in lobbying.  Donations to the ACLU Foundation are tax-deductible, however, because it's a 501(c)(3) organization engaged in public education and litigation.

A 501(c)(4) organization "must not be organized for profit and must be operated exclusively to promote social welfare."  "To be operated exclusively to promote social welfare, an organization must operate primarily to further the common good and general welfare of the people of the community (such as by bringing about civic betterment and social improvements)."  "Seeking legislation germane to the organization's programs is a permissible means of attaining social welfare purposes. Thus, a section 501(c)(4) social welfare organization may further its exempt purposes through lobbying as its primary activity without jeopardizing its exempt status."  "The promotion of social welfare does not include direct or indirect participation or intervention in political campaigns on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office. However, a section 501(c)(4) social welfare organization may engage in some political activities, so long as that is not its primary activity. However, any expenditure it makes for political activities may be subject to tax under section 527(f)."

You can bet that organizations like the Sierra Club know and follow the rules.  On their endorsements page, they note "Sierra Club California's tax exemption status - 501(c)(4) - allows us to make endorsements for candidates and ballot measures."  But most of what they do is things like organize campaigns to contact government officials, provide materials to government officials (information, talking points, fact sheets.), attend and testify at hearings, investigate and publish reports and other materials to educate the public, etc.  [/quote]

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