Tell Your Representative: Support the Fair Treatment of All Charitable Donations

As one of our more than 6.9 million FreedomWorks members nationwide, I urge you to contact your representative today and ask him or her to support the Fair Treatment for All Donations Act, H.R. 1104. Introduced by Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL), this bill would help preserve first amendment rights by preventing the IRS from unfairly taxing donations to nonprofit organizations.

Currently, any gift in excess of $14,000 is subject to the gift tax, except donations made to nonprofit organizations. Regardless, in recent years the IRS has been threatening to change this rule with regard to donations to 501(c)4, (c)5, and (c)6 organizations, meaning these companies would lose their gift tax exemption with respect to their large donors.

After it was discovered that officials in the IRS were unfairly targeting Tea Party groups in the run-up to the 2012 presidential election, it should be obvious that the IRS uses its power to selectively target groups based on their political or religious affiliations. If nonprofits lose their exemption from the gift tax, then unelected officials in the IRS can use this power to suppress opposing viewpoints.

The Fair Treatment for All Donations Act would prevent the IRS from abusing this power by ensuring that all donations to nonprofit organizations remain exempt from the gift tax. Everyone should be treated equally under the law, especially where political free speech is concerned.

Thus, I hope you’ll contact your Representative and ask him or her to support the Fair Treatment for All Donations Act, H.R. 1104, and to co-sponsor the bill if he or she has not already done so.

Sincerely,

Matt Kibbe
President and CEO,
FreedomWorks