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Advocacy Blog
Friday, October 13, 2006
Nonprofits Used to Further Abramoff Lobbying
The minority staff of the Senate Finance Committee released a report yesterday detailing how five nonprofits have put their tax exempt status at risk in their dealings with lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
The nonprofit groups involved include Americans for Tax Reform, Citizens Against Government Waste, the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, the National Center for Public Policy Research, and Toward Tradition. The groups may have been willing to provide services and support for Abramoff's clients in exchange for payment, putting their tax-exempt status in jeopardy. The report cited instances, based on Mr. Abramoff’s e-mail, in which Mr. Norquist’s group Americans for Tax Reform had taken money from the lobbyist to perform such services as writing newspaper columns favorable to the clients. The report, which has been referred to the Justice Department and the IRS, further makes recommendations to clarify laws governing tax-exempt nonprofit organizations. Senator Baucus remarked that;
"Nonprofit organizations get a tax exemption because of the expectation that they will provide benefit to the American public. But it seems that on certain occasions, some groups may have improved a lobbyist’s power and profits,” said Baucus. “The Justice Department and the IRS will have to determine whether tax laws were broken. But in my view, these groups’ dealings with Jack Abramoff certainly violated the spirit, and perhaps the letter, of the laws that give charitable and social welfare organizations a break for the good work they’re supposed to do."
An article in today's Washington Post covers the report.
Posted by Amanda Adams
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