A front group for ultra-conservative Art Pope is jumping into new territory with the encouragement of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. It is using money from Pope’s business to run attack ads against Democratic leaders in the General Assembly. The 501(c)(4) group, called Civitas Action, has the same executive director, office, and dominating financial backer (i.e., Pope) as its 501(c)(3) nonprofit sister, the John W. Pope Civitas Institute. You may recognize that name; it’s the outfit that regularly sponsors polls on partisan issues that the News & Observer publishes as unbiased public opinion surveys. Art Pope and his various conduits are gearing up for considerably more political spending in the final weeks of the election, according to the Civitas director. It’s worth asking: is Pope’s business treating its donation to the (c)(4)/Civitas as a tax-deductible expense; i.e., is it lowering its tax bill while it buys $265,000 worth of “education” – for a net cost of less than $175,000?
1-888-OUR-VOTE|info@democracy-nc.org
So, he has a private business, and 501(c)3 and 501(c)4 nonprofits. And he’s channeling money between them. That is an interesting question. From a business standpoint, what he’s doing is savvy (maybe not ethical). It is evident that there should be more regulation in this area.
It reminds me of the New Yorker article “Covert Operations” on the oil-baron/robber-baron Koch Brothers who funnel lots of money into nonprofit “think tanks.” Under the cover of nonprofit impartiality and legitimacy, they can control the message because the orgs depend heavily on the the wealthy Koches or their ilk for funding. Now the industry voice can manipulate the message for less money and greater credibility as their “analysis” comes from a group called “Citizens for a Sound Economy” not Koch Industries.
An article related to this topic appeared in today’s New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/08/us/politics/08donate.html?hp
Please don’t make the mistake that only conservative rich people are doing this. Don’t forget about the efforts of George Soros (admitted Nazi collaborator) in funding liberal causes.
Obviously you know absolutely nothing about tax law. Donations to 501(c)4 organizations are NOT tax deductible.
But it makes for a good slanderous accusation on your part.
Spaceman: No, the LINK doesn’t say it is a tax-deductible donation. But is it a tax-deductible expense? In many cases, a business can contribute to a 501(c)4 and treat that expense as a normal business expense which it deducts from its taxable income and thereby reduces its tax bill. That means the net cost of the expense is actually less because there are tax savings. Donations to a 501(c)4 that are used for lobbying or overt political advocacy are not supposed to be treated as deductible expenses, but a donation for “education” or “issue advocacy” can be treated as such. The hog barons used this trick to save themselves lots of money when they set up a nonprofit in NC a dozen years ago and used “educational issue advocacy” to clobber several Republican state legislators, including then Rep. Cindy Watson of Duplin County.