Is the Administration Using the I.R.S. to Restrict Political Speech? Jonathan S. Tobin 05.18.2011 - 6:09 PM
Last week, the New York Times broke a story about the Internal Revenue System that shocked the philanthropic and political worlds. According to the Times, the IRS had sent letters to five unidentified donors to non-profit advocacy groups that their contributions may be subject to taxes. The IRS move, which is a reversal of a policy of non-enforcement of limits on the size of such gifts that goes back decades, was a shot fired over the bows of 501(c)(4) groups that have had an outsize impact of politics in recent years. That’s especially true since last year’s Citizens United ruling by the Supreme Court, which swept away some federal restrictions on political speech that were promulgated by groups in the name of campaign finance reform.
A decision to tax such gifts would obviously have an impact on the amount of money donated to advocacy groups whose activities are not restricted by campaign finance laws. Moreover, this could have a deleterious impact on big givers such as George Soros and the Koch brothers meaning that both left- and right-wing groups would be hurt by such a policy.
What’s the motivation for this sudden decision on the part of the IRS to try and tax donations to non-profit advocacy organizations? Given the Obama administration’s hysterical reaction to the Citizens United case, it’s hard to avoid the suspicion that somebody in the White House has been advocating for the use of the federal government’s most feared agency to try and act to limit the impact of that decision. The routine use of the IRS as a political weapon in the hands of any incumbent has been severely curtailed since the backlash from Watergate exposed Richard Nixon’s excesses. But given the abrupt nature of this about-face on an issue that is directly linked to political speech, it’s only natural that questions are going to be asked about this decision.
So it’s little surprise to learn that, as Ben Smith reports on Politico, five senators have sent a letter to the IRS doing just that. The five, all Republicans, want to know what is the reasoning behind the decision. Even more to the point, they are demanding to see every scrap of correspondence and analysis conducted by the IRS about this issue. The implication of that request is not exactly a mystery. If anybody in the White House or administration officials in other departments sought to either inspire or influence the crackdown on advocacy, they’re going to have a lot of explaining to do.
While this is not quite the same thing as a president ordering the agency to audit his political enemies, efforts to hinder contributions to groups that the administration doesn’t like is just as questionable. If the IRS follow through on their threat, this story has the potential to blow up into a serious scandal that may badly burn the White House
