[EL] Will taxable groups hide political case?

[Rick Hasen]

Another danger aside from coordination is foreign money.

On 3/10/2014 9:34 AM, Scarberry, Mark wrote:
> The rest of the CQ article seems to be behind a pay wall. Of course 
> there are limits to fair use; I'm not asking for the rest to be 
> posted. But, contrary to the story's implication, isn't coordination 
> still prohibited (at least for candidates for federal office)? 
> For-profit corporations can't evade that prohibition, at least not 
> openly, right? I suppose the point is that, as the article points out, 
> they are less subject to IRS oversight and aren't required under tax 
> laws to disclose as much about their activities as (c)(4)s; that makes 
> coordination harder to detect.
>
> Mark S. Scarberry
> Pepperdine University School of Law
>
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On Mar 10, 2014, at 7:41 AM, "Rick Hasen" <rhasen at law.uci.edu 
> <mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu>> wrote:
>
>>
>>     “Will Taxable Groups Hide Political Cash?”
>>     <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=59346>
>>
>> Posted on March 10, 2014 7:39 am 
>> <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=59346>by Rick Hasen 
>> <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
>>
>> Must-read <http://www.cq.com/doc/weeklyreport-4436511?from=blogE>CQ 
>> Weekly Cover story by Eliza Newlin Carney:
>>
>>     Unlike super PACs, which are not allowed to coordinate their
>>     activities with parties or candidates, a for-profit company need
>>     not keep politicians at arm’s length. And unlike politically
>>     active tax-exempt groups, which must publicly report their
>>     officers and grant recipients to the Internal Revenue Service,
>>     LLCs leave virtually no paper trail. With a little care they can
>>     avoid Federal Election Commission disclosures, public IRS filings
>>     and corporate taxes all at once — a dream come true, critics say,
>>     for publicity-shy big donors…..
>>
>>     But Kelner says numerous clients are approaching him with
>>     questions about how to organize themselves as for-profits, or as
>>     limited liability companies. They’re preparing for the
>>     possibility that the IRS will impose new political curbs on
>>     501(c)(4) social-welfare groups, says Kelner. Even if the new IRS
>>     rules never take effect, conservative and tea party organizers,
>>     in particular, are convinced that the agency is on a partisan
>>     campaign to shut them down. IRS and administration officials say
>>     the agency’s mistakes in the tea party cases resulted from
>>     confusion and human error, not ill intent.
>>
>>     “There’s an increasing appetite to get out from under IRS
>>     scrutiny,” confirms Indiana election lawyer James Bopp Jr., who
>>     has led numerous constitutional challenges to campaign finance
>>     restrictions.
>>
>> <share_save_171_16.png> 
>> <http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D59346&title=%E2%80%9CWill%20Taxable%20Groups%20Hide%20Political%20Cash%3F%E2%80%9D&description=>
>> Posted in campaign finance <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, tax 
>> law and election law <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=22>
>>
>>
>>     ...
>>
>> -- 
>> Rick Hasen
>> Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
>> UC Irvine School of Law
>> 401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
>> Irvine, CA 92697-8000
>> 949.824.3072 - office
>> 949.824.0495 - fax
>> rhasen at law.uci.edu
>> hhttp://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
>> http://electionlawblog.org
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-- 
Rick Hasen
Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
UC Irvine School of Law
401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
Irvine, CA 92697-8000
949.824.3072 - office
949.824.0495 - fax
rhasen at law.uci.edu
hhttp://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
http://electionlawblog.org

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