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Tester Urges Halt to Donor Disclosure Reg

SEP. 10, 2019

Tester Urges Halt to Donor Disclosure Reg

DATED SEP. 10, 2019
DOCUMENT ATTRIBUTES
  • Authors
    Tester, Sen. Jon
  • Institutional Authors
    U.S. Senate
  • Subject Area/Tax Topics
  • Industry Groups
    Nonprofit sector
  • Jurisdictions
  • Tax Analysts Document Number
    2019-34697
  • Tax Analysts Electronic Citation
    2019 TNTF 176-15
    2019 EOR 10-55
  • Magazine Citation
    The Exempt Organization Tax Review, Oct. 2019, p. 391
    84 Exempt Org. Tax Rev. 391 (2019)
    The Exempt Organization Tax Review, Oct. 2019, p. 391
    84 Exempt Org. Tax Rev. 391 (2019)

September 10, 2019

The Honorable Steven Mnuchin
Secretary of the Treasury
U.S. Department of Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania A venue NW
Washington, D.C. 20220

The Honorable Charles Rettig
Commissioner
Internal Revenue Service
1111 Constitution A venue NW
Washington, D.C. 20224

Dear Secretary Mnuchin and Commissioner Rettig:

I write to express my deep concerns about the proposed regulation to eliminate donor disclosure requirements for certain tax-exempt organizations. The proposed regulation would allow special interest groups to hide their donors from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and increase the amount of dark money flooding our political system. It would also undercut the government's ability to prevent foreign influence in our elections. I urge the IRS to rescind this proposal that threatens our democracy.

Specifically, under the proposed regulation (IRS REG-102508-16), certain non-profit organizations that engage in political activity would no longer be required to disclose the names of donors who contribute over $5,000 to the IRS. Previous attempts to roll back these disclosure requirements have been rejected by a federal judge and a bipartisan vote in the U.S. Senate.

In response to these previous attempts, I introduced the Spotlight Act. This legislation would codify and expand disclosure requirements for tax-exempt organizations that engage in political activity. It would also require these organizations to publicly disclose information about their big money donors. The Spotlight Act would make it easier for Americans to know who is donating to certain campaigns and decrease the ability of foreign countries to influence our elections.

Americans from across the political spectrum support bringing greater transparency to our elections. I urge you to halt the implementation of this proposed rule, and instead, work to get dark money out of our political system by supporting the Spotlight Act.

Sincerely,

John Tester

DOCUMENT ATTRIBUTES
  • Authors
    Tester, Sen. Jon
  • Institutional Authors
    U.S. Senate
  • Subject Area/Tax Topics
  • Industry Groups
    Nonprofit sector
  • Jurisdictions
  • Tax Analysts Document Number
    2019-34697
  • Tax Analysts Electronic Citation
    2019 TNTF 176-15
    2019 EOR 10-55
  • Magazine Citation
    The Exempt Organization Tax Review, Oct. 2019, p. 391
    84 Exempt Org. Tax Rev. 391 (2019)
    The Exempt Organization Tax Review, Oct. 2019, p. 391
    84 Exempt Org. Tax Rev. 391 (2019)
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