IRS Must Define Political Activity

From the WashingtonPost.com:

The Aug. 22 article "Ruling sets up IRS as overseer of groups' gifts to campaigns" portrayed the ineffectiveness of the Internal Revenue Service enforcing disclosure on political spending. While the problem stems in part from an agency operating on "tax time," a fundamental reason the IRS cannot meaningfully enforce rules on nonprofit groups' political activity is its failure to give clear rules defining what is considered "political”.

For decades, the agency has relied on a "know it when we see it" approach, otherwise called the "facts and circumstances" test. In contrast to clear, practical rules that define lobbying for nonprofits, groups interested in political advocacy have little guidance and must guess how regulators will characterize their messages. It is this regulatory failure that allows Americans for Job Security to claim that its ads are issue advocacy and not electoral activity.

In the wake of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, the IRS needs to step up and take on the hard task of providing guidance that defines political activity. Nonprofit organizations struggling to comply with vague rules and the public deserve no less.

Stamps May Go to 46 Cents

The U.S. postal service has raised the cost of postage time and time again; therefore we are surprised that they are expected to raise the current price by 2 more cents, to $0.46 per standard letter. Like so many businesses in this country, the postal service is still recovering from the economic crisis, and struggling economy. If enacted, the new postal increase would go into effect on January 2^nd of 2011.

According to CNNMoney.com, the postal service is projecting a $7 billion deficit next fiscal year, and hopes this increase will help reduce that deficit.

The agency's revenue has been crushed as the volume of mail it processes has declined 12.7% in a year. Businesses hit by the recession have cut back on mailings and more people continue to turn to the web to send their messages.

Earlier this year, the Postal Service announced it would reduce its workforce by the equivalent of 50,000 positions and slash overtime. But the cut in employees and reduction of billions of dollars in expenses have not been enough to close the budget gap.

Continue reading at CNN Money.com…