Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Will the IRS strip the non-profit status off bar associations in New York for endorsing DiFiore for Chief Judge of the State of New York?

New York State and New York City bar associations are non-profit organizations registered with IRS and having a tax exempt federal status.

As a condition of that status, these organizations may not be involved in any political activities.

Yet, that's exactly what these associations did when they recently:

(1) testified to lobby for certain changes in attorney disciplinary rules (in the summer of 2015);
(2) testified to lobby for judicial pay raises (in December of 2015), and used their tax-exempt money to hire an expert to support their lobbying efforts on behalf of judges (see testimony of David Miranda, president of tax-exempt non-profit, the New York State Bar Association, lobbying for judicial pay raises);


(3) endorsed candidates for the office of Chief Judge of New York State Court of Appeals, and
(4) are, reportedly, now invited to testify at a confirmation hearing of Janet DiFiore in New York State Senate while no other members of the public are permitted to testify.

All of these activities by bar associations in the State of New York must lead, under the federal law, to stripping these non-profit corporations of their tax exempt status and to making them pay taxes for the year 2015 and 2016 and for all other years when they engaged in political activities, including lobbying.

Moreover, since bar associations engage in such political activities openly, it reflects a long-established practice, and an investigation of how far back in time New York bar associations engaged in political activities,  (and bar associations from other states and from the federal bars) is in order.

I am sure state and federal budget may greatly benefit from tax infusions from bar associations who would be stripped of their tax exempt status, and that stripping bar associations of their tax exempt status for their political activity will also show the public that lawyers are not above the law. 

And recently, heated petitions were filed by thousands of people demanding that IRS revoke tax-exempt status of a church that engaged in a clearly political activity.

And, IRS was sued recently for its lax enforcement of the tax exempt status against politically involved nonprofits.

Bar associations, same as churches, should not be allowed to engage in political activities while claiming a tax exempt status.

So, will the numerous bar associations in New York, all non-profit corporations, that recently lobbied for raising judicial pay and who endorsed candidates for the Chief Judge position be stripped of their tax-exempt status and be made to pay taxes, as everybody else does?




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