June 24, 2004 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Republican members of Congress last week unsuccessfully attempted to loosen federal restraints that prohibit churches and other religious groups from engaging in political activities.
Rep. William M. Thomas, Republican of California, added a provision to corporate-tax legislation, known as the Americans Jobs Creation Act (HR 4520), that would have reduced the penalties for religious groups that engage in political activity. After protests from nonprofit leaders, Democrats and Republicans voted to strip the provision from the bill before it reached the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Proponents of the religious proposal said church leaders who inadvertently endorsed or protested a political candidate as part of a sermon, for example, should not face unduly harsh punishment. Under current law, religious leaders are prohibited from voicing their political opinions in an official fashion, and they run the risk of losing their group’s tax-exempt status if they do so. The religious provision in the bill would have allowed “three unintentional violations” of this law as long as the sectarian officials paid a fine for each transgression.
The nonprofit officials who opposed the measure said it was unconstitutional and would increase scrutiny of religious organizations.
While Congress debated the so-called Safe Harbor for Churches provision, the Internal Revenue Service this month sent a letter to the Democratic National Committee, the Republican National Committee, and five other national political parties reminding them of the federal rules governing nonprofit groups and political activities. The tax agency has sent similar letters to the political parties during every presidential election since 1992.
The letter reminds the recipients that charities engaged in political work could lose their tax-exempt status and says that the IRS “will take whatever actions are necessary to stem abusive behavior.”
According to a recent newspaper report, one presidential campaign’s involvement with a nonprofit group has already raised questions. From October to April, the offices of Citizen Works, a charity in Washington, housed the presidential campaign of Ralph Nader, reported The Washington Post. The charity’s former president also served as Mr. Nader’s campaign manager. Experts in campaign-finance law said the arrangement may violate federal law.
Mr. Nader, who founded Citizen Works, denied any wrongdoing. The newspaper said that the campaign had paid the charity for the use of its facilities and that Mr. Nader’s campaign manager resigned from her job with the nonprofit group, though some overlap in the positions may have occurred.
