WaPo: "Conservatives Not Swayed By IRS Plan To Revise Proposed Nonprofit Rule"

The Washington Post reports today, “The head of the Internal Revenue Service this week signaled that his agency will re-write proposed new limits on the political activities of nonprofit advocacy groups . . . . Lawmakers and policy analysts on both sides of the political spectrum have voiced opposition to the draft guidelines, which would prohibit tax-exempt organizations from engaging in certain election-related activities including voter-registration and get-out-the-vote drives. Conservatives have argued that the proposals are part of an Obama administration plot to silence criticism from the right. Liberals have said the plans go too far and need reworking.”

The Post notes that the IRS Commissioner’s comments have “fail[ed] to win over conservatives.” “Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), one of the staunchest opponents of the limits, responded with backhanded approval to the IRS walking back its initial proposals. He has said that the Obama administration should drop its plans for new regulations affecting nonprofit advocacy groups. ‘The commissioner has the ability to stop the IRS from stepping on the First Amendment altogether, and that’s exactly what he should do,’ McConnell said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Cleta Mitchell, a conservative election-law expert, said in an interview on Tuesday that the Obama administration has been working ‘behind closed doors’ and ‘in secret’ to develop new rules that would hinder nonprofit advocacy groups with right-leaning policy positions. ‘It doesn’t give me comfort that [Koskinen] says he’s re-writing the draft regulations,’ Mitchell said. ‘This is a flawed process that is going to continue to produce a flawed product.’”

Mitchell is quite right. The IRS needs to get out of the business of regulating political speech altogether.

Remember, this proposal was so poorly conceived that the ACLU warned it would “impermissibly chill political speech that should receive the highest level of protection under the First Amendment” and the NRA agreed that it “appears like a blatant abuse of the tax code designed to muzzle the American people's free speech rights.” The League of Women Voters called it “a terrible mistake, both for voters and for our democracy.” And an Americans for Prosperity spokesman said, “Because the proposed rules are so sweeping, categorical, and prohibitive, they will almost certainly affect organizations both large and small with equally draconian effects.”

As Leader McConnell said, the message from both liberals and conservatives to the IRS was, “Leave. The First Amendment. Alone. Get out of the censorship and harassment business. Stick to the job you’re actually supposed to be doing. . . . So Left, Right, or Center — folks understand what a threat this rule poses to our most cherished of civil liberties. . . . [W]hat unites us is our love of the liberties that have allowed Americans to disagree civilly for centuries. Commissioner Koskinen: Do the right thing. Stop this regulation.”

---

Tags: IRS Plan, revise nonprofit rule, limiting free speech To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!