IRS At It Again

For John, BLUF:  This is one of those "If they can do it to them they can do it to me" kind of things.  We should not let it pass without a comment.  Thank you, Professor Caron.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Another IRS Free Speech Scandal

From TaxProf Blog, by Professor Paul Caron, 24 November 2018.

Here is the lede:

he Internal Revenue Service infamously targeted dissenters during President Obama’s re-election campaign.  Now the IRS is at it again. Earlier this year it issued a rule suppressing huge swaths of First Amendment protected speech.  The regulation appears designed to hamper the marijuana industry, which is still illegal under federal law although many states have enacted decriminalization measures.  But it goes far beyond that.

The innocuously named Revenue Procedure 2018-5 contains a well-hidden provision enabling the Service to withhold tax-exempt status from organizations seeking to improve “business conditions . . . relating to an activity involving controlled substances (within the meaning of Schedule I and II of the Controlled Substances Act) which is prohibited by federal law.”  That means that to obtain tax-exempt status under any provision of the Internal Revenue Code’s Section 501—whether as a charity, social-welfare advocacy group or other type of nonprofit—an organization may not advocate for altering the legal regime applicable to any Schedule I or II substance.

There is more elucidation of the subject at the link above.

I didn't vote for the commonwealth's Marijuana initiative and I do not see blue skies ahead with this last week's opening of two Pot Shops, but the People voted and the IRS should not be fighting this kind of rear guard action.

If only Trump knew.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff