Sunday, December 11, 2016

Big, Very Rich and Dangerous: Time to Rein in Private Charitable Foundations

A few years ago, Mark Steyn sagely observed, “In America today, few activities are as profitable as a ‘nonprofit.’”  Nothing warrants changing that assessment now. President-elect Trump has a lot on his plate if he plans to turn around the ship of state. But if it’s not too presumptuous, I’d like to add one more item to his agenda: a substantial rewrite of the laws respecting our tax-exempt sector, reining in private foundations.

Background:

During a 75-year period (1984-1969) the U.S. Tax Code “established the basic principles and requirements of tax exemption, identified business activities of tax-exempt organizations that were subject to taxation, and defined and regulated private foundations as a sub-set for tax-exempt organizations.” Their assets have increased enormously since then. It’s time for another look at the law with an end to rewrite it.

Together, private and public charitable foundations are apparently sitting on trillions of dollars of assets.

These organizations have grown to massive size -- and are poorly, if at all, regulated.  Instead of meeting the charitable needs of citizens that government funds were inadequate to provide for, foundations are regularly being misused to fund organizations and outfits antithetical to our best interests, disenfranchising us and working at cross purposes to the desires and beliefs of most Americans. The achievements of a few big foundations include undermining the war on terror, Balkanizing our universities and society, lobbying for open borders, and undermining our economy with radical environmentalism. -



http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2016/12/big_very_rich_and_dangerous_time_to_rein_in_private_charitable_foundations.html

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