IRS Rules Bingo Is For Charities Not A Charity In Itself
The portion of the IRS that concerns itself with exempt organizations is reeling from the fallout of the interminable scandal. It has come in for criticism from the other side now for its granting of exempt status to Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS, which was pretty explicitly started to avoid spending disclosure for poltical activity. And here we have the IRS worrying about what organizations can run bingo.
Oxymorons In The Tax Law Can Not Be Fixed With Clever Ideas
It is worth noting that even though the taxpayers did not have a really good commons sense argument, they did have an argument. There are some areas of the Code where partnerships and S Corporations are recognized as “taxpayers” – making elections, having distinct accounting methods and engaging in transactions with owners for example. Who knows maybe if they had gotten this up to the Supremes, the late Justice Scalia, God rest his soul, would have been on their side from a strict textual reading. Or maybe not.
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Over and over again courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging one’s affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everybody does so, rich or poor; and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands: taxes are enforced exactions, not voluntary contributions. To demand more in the name of morals is mere cant.