About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

527 Groups and Campaign Activity: Analysis Under Campaign Finance and Tax Laws, June 12, 2008 1 (June 12, 2008)

handle is hein.tera/crstax0119 and id is 1 raw text is: Order Code RS22895 June 12, 2008 ACRS Report for Congress 527 Groups and Campaign Activity: Analysis Under Campaign Finance and Tax Laws L. Paige Whitaker and Erika Lunder Legislative Attorneys American Law Division Summary During recent election cycles, there has been controversy regarding the increased campaign-related activity of 527 groups and to what extent they are regulated under federal law. The controversy stems from the intersection between the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), which regulates political committees, and Section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC), which provides tax-exempt status to political organizations. Some groups that qualify for beneficial tax treatment as political organizations seemingly intend to influence federal elections in ways that may place them outside the FECA definition of political committee. This report refers to this subset of Section 527 political organizations as 527 groups or 527s. Considerable debate has been generated about the extent to which FECA currently regulates 527 groups as political committees and the constitutional parameters of such regulation. The 527 Reform Act of 2007 (H.R. 420 and S. 463) would amend FECA to generally treat all Section 527 political organizations active in federal elections as political committees. Background Campaign-related activity by entities commonly referred to as 527 groups or 527s has increased over the past several election cycles. These groups are a subset of the political organizations that qualify for tax-exempt status under Section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC).' Beginning in earnest in the late 1990s, 527 groups have funded broadcast communications that discuss the position of federal candidates on public policy issues, but carefully avoid expressly advocating for or against a candidate. Although these issue advocacy communications are widely viewed as intending to influence elections, some argue that they are not regulated - and cannot be constitutionally regulated - by the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) due to an interpretation of the Supreme Court's campaign finance law jurisprudence only permitting regulation of communications expressly advocating for the election or defeat of a clearly identified 1 Examples of other § 527 political organizations include candidate committees, party committees, political action committees (PACs), and organizations involved in state and local elections or activities related to non-elective offices. Congressional Research Service The Library of Congress Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most