A Texas-based group called Pro Life Revolution waited more than two years for approval of its tax-exempt status from the IRS, but it didn't have to wait that long to find out
what happens to pro-life groups, especially those with a faith-based bent, when they seek the same kind of legal tax status as thousands of other groups. (Hat tip to
Mary Katharine Ham at Hot Air on this one.)
Wan sounds like a hoity-toity society liberal at some social gathering, admonishing the rare Christian in the room that he or she needs to take it down a notch because no one likes God "shoved down their throat" or whatever. She really has no legal ground to stand on. It all comes down to how you distinguish determined advocacy, which I guess is just fine, from "confrontation". Who decides that one group is merely advocating its views and another is trying to "force" its views on others? Why, the IRS, sillies.
And because these things are really impossible to distinguish as a matter of law, it gives the IRS carte blanche to approve groups the government likes and delay or deny those the government doesn't like. As we now know, the IRS makes quite a habit of this, and it shouldn't be forgotten that they do so in large part at the behest of
Democratic senators who had their knickers in a twist over the activities of groups they didn't like.
Reining in the IRS is necessary to cure a symptom of the problem, but the real problem is the tax code. We have nominal free speech in this country, but as a practical matter, the tax code is designed to soak you unless you are engaging in activity the government approves. So as a nonprofit organization, you have little choice but to apply for tax-exempt status, and once you do, the government claims
de facto authority to monitor your activities, including your speech. Their rationale is
you've got a lot of nerve expecting a tax-exemption, so if the IRS is getting all up in your business, you did it to yourself by asking for a favor.
That of course is dishonest in the extreme, but as long as we maintain our current tax code, what's to stop them from doing it? The answer is a tax code that doesn't require nonprofits to seek exemptions because its default function is not to soak them in the first place. This incident is a reminder that the real objective of the tax code is expand the power of politicians by giving them the authority to decide what is good and what is not good - and to tax the latter while exempting the former.
The IRS's treatment of Pro Life Revolution - and the many other similar incidents we have heard about in recent days - is the inevitable result of our current code, which is why it must be abolished. It doesn't only kill America's economic vitality. It kills our freedom.
