Written by Don Byrd
The IRS prohibits tax-exempt organizations from engaging in political activity. The ban on pulpit endorsements of candidates is one example. That general rule makes sense, too. After all, the purpose of tax-exemption is to encourage charitable and other activities for the common good. Electing one candidate over another does not meet that definition.
Every election year, though, I see stories of ministers or church officials trying to suggest a candidate without committing a technical violation.
Guess what? The IRS – not born yesterday – is onto that sort of thing. This is from their guidelines for churches on avoiding improper political activity, which emphasize the spirit of the rule:
Even if a statement does not expressly tell an audience to vote for or against a specific candidate, an organization delivering the statement is at risk of violating the political campaign intervention prohibition if there is any message favoring or opposing a candidate. A
statement can identify a candidate not only by stating the candidate’s name but also by other means such as showing a picture of the candidate, referring to political party affiliations, or other distinctive features of a candidate’s platform or biography. All the facts and circumstances need to be considered to determine if the advocacy is political campaign intervention.
And one of those facts they consider is the proximity to upcoming elections. Keep that IRS warning in mind when reading this story, about a Priest in Manhattan, who acknowledged to his parishioners that he couldn’t endorse a candidate while nonetheless pointing them to the bulletin containing a letter of endorsement from former ambassadors to the Vatican.
Why try and outsmart the IRS? Wink-wink endorsements are prohibited too. AU has filed a complaint.
