Nonprofit Speech Rights

Feb 8, 2016

Top 400 Taxpayers See Tax Rates Rise, But There’s More to the Story

As Americans were gathering party supplies to greet the New Year, the Internal Revenue Service released their annual report of cumulative tax data reported on the 400 tax r...

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Feb 4, 2016

Chlorine Bleach Plants Needlessly Endanger 63 Million Americans

Chlorine bleach plants across the U.S. put millions of Americans in danger of a chlorine gas release, a substance so toxic it has been used as a chemical weapon. Greenpeace’s new repo...

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Jan 25, 2016

U.S. Industrial Facilities Reported Fewer Toxic Releases in 2014

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for 2014 is now available. The good news: total toxic releases by reporting facilities decreased by nearly six percent from 2013 levels. Howe...

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Jan 22, 2016

Methane Causes Climate Change. Here's How the President Plans to Cut Emissions by 40-45 Percent.

UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2016): Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed rule to reduce methane emissions...

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No Charges for Man Who Ejected Three from Town Hall Meeting

Federal prosecutors announced they will not charge the man who ejected three Denver residents from a taxpayer-funded town hall meeting on Social Security, because their car had an anti-war bumper sticker. The announcement was made after the Secret Service referred its investigation to the U.S. Attorney's office to consider charges of impersonating a federal officer. During the March incident, the unidentified man threatened to arrest the three attendees, if they did not leave, even though they had tickets and were not disrupting the event.

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Patriot Games: The USA Patriot Act and Its Impact on Nonprofit Organizations

Published in September 2003: The Bush administration recently shut down a number of Muslim-based nonprofit organizations using new powers under the USA Patriot Act, which was passed shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. No criminal charges were made against these organizations, nor were they officially designated terrorist supporters. Law enforcement officials simply froze their assets and seized their property “pending an investigation” without producing any evidence, as authorized by the act.

Consequently, the burden of proof has shifted to the organizations, which must prove their innocence even though, in many cases, the government has not specified wrongdoing. Moreover, they must do this without access to their own documents, computers, records, or other materials that might make their case.

See the full report

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Nonprofits Benefit from Estate Tax, Seattle Op-Ed Says

Aug 4, 2005 by Guest Blogger

Grateful Americans don't mind giving something back As a non-millionaire who paid an estate tax, I am tired of the false claims made in Thursday's guest column by Dick Patten. For starters, a recent non-partisan study found that virtually no farm or small business would pay estate taxes with a few simple changes to current law. In our state, raising the exempt amount to $3.5 million per person means that only 80 estates would likely pay any estate tax in 2006, and just 3 percent of them are family-owned farms or businesses. Millions of average Americans have good reasons to oppose repeal.

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Nonprofits Benefit from Estate Tax, Seattle Op-Ed Says

Aug 4, 2005 by Guest Blogger

Grateful Americans don't mind giving something back As a non-millionaire who paid an estate tax, I am tired of the false claims made in Thursday's guest column by Dick Patten. For starters, a recent non-partisan study found that virtually no farm or small business would pay estate taxes with a few simple changes to current law. In our state, raising the exempt amount to $3.5 million per person means that only 80 estates would likely pay any estate tax in 2006, and just 3 percent of them are family-owned farms or businesses. Millions of average Americans have good reasons to oppose repeal.

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CRS Report Re JCT Ideas for Charitable Donations

Aug 4, 2005 by Guest Blogger

The Report summarizes major proposals by the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) for dealing with high-profile issues in the area of charitable giving. The proposals came from a January 2005 report compiled by the JCT staff (JCS-02-05) and have not been endorsed by the chairman or the ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee. However, the ideas could play a role as the Finance Committee staff molds a comprehensive overhaul of tax exemptions with introduction of legislation possible in September.

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IRS TE/GE Division to Step-Up Enforcement

Aug 4, 2005 by Guest Blogger

At the National Conference of State Social Security Administrators in Denver on July 25, Internal Revenue Service Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division Commissioner Steven Miller announced that the office will be placing a greater emphasis on enforcement in upcoming years, rather than on customer outreach and education. Miller is planning to complete more than 1,400 examinations in 2006, and IRS Commissioner Mark Everson has already pledged 26 new TE/GE agents and a division budget increase of 9 percent.

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New Faith-Based STudy by Urban Institute

Aug 3, 2005 by Guest Blogger

A new study concludes that Bush administration efforts to expand faith-based contracting via targeted initiatives are changing the nature of social services supported directly with federal funds far more than has legislation passed in the mid-1990s. The study is the first in-depth look at the major block grant programs in the Department of Health and Human Services with legislated Charitable Choice provisions, as well as at discretionary programs funded under the Compassion Capital Fund (CCF).

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Preacher Praying for More S.C. Vacancies OK By IRS Rules

Aug 3, 2005 by Amanda Adams*

Today, Americans United put out a press release criticsing TV Preacher Pat Robertson's recent televised prayers to God to make more vacancies on the Supreme Court. However uncomfortable this may make proponets of church/state seperation, IRS rules allow all 501(c)(3)s, including churches, to talk about issues and policy positions, whether they be "conservative" or "liberal".

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EAC Issues Guidance on Statewide Voter Registration Lists

Aug 2, 2005 by Kay Guinane

The Election Assistance Commission, which is charged with implementing the Help America Vote Act, has issued VOLUNTARY GUIDANCE ON IMPLEMENTATION OF STATEWIDE VOTER REGISTRATION LISTS, which are intended to "assist States in their efforts to develop and implement a single, uniform, official, centralized, interactive computerized statewide voter registration list."

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Nonprofits Turning to For-Profit Model

Aug 1, 2005 by Guest Blogger

Changing the way an organization is run to increase efficiency and impact, a process known as capacity building, is one of the biggest trends in nonprofits. Motivated in part by an uncertain economy, nonprofit organizations have become more results-driven by developing new ways of creating revenue, increasing employee specialization, and enhancing marketing techniques. For the full scoop...

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