Democratic congressman sues IRS over political rules ( 501(c)(4) )
WASHINGTON — A Democratic congressman filed suit against the Internal Revenue Service on Wednesday, seeking to overturn a 54-year-old rule that allows social welfare groups to engage in political activity.
Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., seeks to force the IRS to draft new rules requiring that the tax-exempt 501(c)(4) groups comply with the section of the Internal Revenue Code for which they're named. That section requires such groups to be "operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare."
"The law is clear. What do you want us to do, put an exclamation point after exclusively?" Van Hollen told reporters.
But since 1959, the IRS has followed a rule that allowed 501(c)(4) groups to engage in political activity, as long as it wasn't their primary mission. That rule has been widely interpreted as allowing such tax-exempt groups to spend 49% of their money on politics — without disclosing where that money came from.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/08/21/irs-political-activity-lawsuit/2680833/
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