FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 11, 2014
CONTACT: John-Paul Yates, 952-405-8510 or JohnPaul.Yates@mail.house.gov

Washington, D.C. – Today, Representative Erik Paulsen (MN-03) voted to prevent the IRS from implementing proposed regulations that overwhelmingly affect conservative social welfare organizations.  The proposed regulations would restrict the ability of 501(c)(4) organizations to engage in certain activities – such as non-partisan get-out-the-vote efforts, voter registration drives, and candidate forums – and still maintain their tax-exempt status.  With Paulsen’s support, the Stop Targeting of Political Beliefs by the IRS Act of 2014 passed the House Committee on Ways and Means.

“It is wrong for the IRS to institutionalize discrimination of conservative groups,” said Paulsen.  “Nobody should be targeted by the IRS because of their personal beliefs, and the IRS should not be used as a weapon to suppress political activity, plain and simple.”  

Background
Under regulations in place for over fifty years, an organization is eligible for a tax exemption under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code if it is primarily engaged in promoting the common good and general welfare.  The regulations allow 501(c)(4)s to engage in activities such as non-partisan get-out-the-vote efforts, voter registration drives and candidate forums without jeopardizing their tax exempt status.  Under the proposed IRS rules published on November 29, 2013, however, these actions would be treated as campaign intervention (i.e. not common good or general welfare) and could therefore jeopardize their tax-exempt status.

Additionally, the proposed regulations would only affect groups organized as 501(c)(4)s.  Tax-exempt charitable organizations, unions, and chambers of commerce – 501(c)(3)s, 501(c)(5)s, and 501(c)(6)s, respectively – would still be permitted to engage in these actions without endangering their tax-exempt status.

Paulsen, a champion of small business and advocate of free enterprise, entrepreneurship, and innovation, serves on the House Ways and Means Committee, the bicameral Joint Economic Committee, and is co-chair of the Congressional Medical Technology Caucus.
For more information on Rep. Paulsen’s work in Congress visit www.paulsen.house.gov.
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