On today’s BradCast: Like everywhere else in the federal government, the Trump Administration’s IRS seems determined to undermine decades of the rule of law. Specifically, 75-years of tax law as it regards elections and the separation between church and state. But why would he stop there? [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]
A few headlines before we get to today’s main story…
- A lively Democratic primary election was underway on Tuesday in Arizona‘s 7th Congressional District for a Special Election to fill the vacant seat of Democratic Rep. Raúl Grijalva, who passed away in March. Among the five candidates running are Grijalva’s 54-year old daughter and a 25-year old political influencer. Both are progressives, as the race appears more about generational change than ideology. Republicans are holding a three-way primary as well today, in the geographically large and otherwise very “blue” district stretching into Tucson and across the southern border of the state.
- New figures from the Dept. of Labor out today find consumer prices rising again, as Donald Trump‘s inflationary tariffs begin to take hold, just as pretty much all legit economists had long warned. The overall rate ticked up to 2.7% in June after clocking in at 2.4% the month prior. Trump has promised still larger tariffs in the weeks ahead, even as he pressures the Fed to lower interest rates — which could further spike inflation.
- Both the New York Times and Washington Post recently filed stories focused on implementation of new tax policy by the Administration following the Trump/GOP budget law that is now set to slash more than $4 trillion in taxes, mostly for the wealthy. The Times highlights Ken Kies, the longtime corporate lobbyist who Trump has tapped to head-up tax policy at the Treasury Department. After decades helping the ultra-rich and major corporations dodge taxes, Kies — who was approved last month on a party-line vote in the Senate — will now be able to adapt those tax-cheating skills to writing policy for the federal government itself.
- THEN… Speaking of both taxes and election, we’re joined by Professor ELLEN APRILL, longtime, recently retired tax law expert at Loyola Law School, now Senior Scholar in Residence for Philanthropy and Nonprofits at the UCLA School of Law.
Last week, lawyers for Trump’s Internal Revenue Service filed a stunning settlement agreement [PDF] in court, in a case filed against the government by several Texas churches and a group of religious broadcasters. The agreement, if accepted by the court, would allow houses of worship to endorse political candidates, despite their tax-exempt nonprofit status.
The settlement would, at least for the specific challengers in this case, block the 75-year old Johnson Amendment which mandates that churches and other nonprofits may not participate in “any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office.”
That news was reported last week with much fanfare, suggesting the Trump Administration’s IRS had declared it lawful for churches to endorse political candidates from the pulpit. The truth is not quite as awful…thought it’s close. And it could quickly get worse if this agreement is approved by the judge in this case.
“Technically, it is not a new statement of general application from the IRS,” Aprill tells me today. “It is simply a settlement of a particular case involving two plaintiffs — two churches and the National Religious Broadcasters — and if the judge were to rule the way that the government and the plaintiffs have asked, it would enjoin enforcement of the Johnson Amendment for statements during worship [but] only for these two churches.”
But, as Aprill told the New York Times last week, “Even Las Vegas doesn’t stay in Las Vegas these days.” The agreement on its own, if finalized, does not set legal precedent, she explains. But it may help to clear that path moving forward. And, in the meantime, she notes, it wouldn’t just apply to places of worship communicating with their members — like “a family discussion concerning candidates — as the IRS motion characterized it. It could be used to endorse candidates on web sites run by churches with tens of thousands of members and, of course, millions of viewers across the country.
Moreover, non-religious 501(c)(3) nonprofits are likely to soon say, “I don’t know why you can do it for them, and not for me,” warns Aprill. “They are really arguing for expanding the rule, not taking it away from houses of worship.”
It could also lead, she worries, to “faux churches, faux houses of worship, being formed just to get the tax deductible contributions” since “unlike other 501(c)(3)s, houses of worship do not have to file to become tax exempt, they do not have to file the annual information return that other 501(c)(3)s do.”
As if we don’t have enough Dark Money in our electoral system already, this Administration — led by a President who, in 2017, vowed to “get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment” — seems hell bent (pun intended) on corrupting what’s left of our democracy even further.
- FINALLY… Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report, as deadly flash flooding spreads throughout the U.S.; as Kristi Noem and FEMA faces questions about their failures during horrific July 4th flooding in Texas; and as a National Park treasure is lost in a wildfire over the weekend that park officials allowed to burn on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon…
Gerrymandering, it’s just for crooks anymore (Trump tells Texas Republicans to redraw the state congressional map to help keep House majority).
Will The White House Faith Office have to apologize as some religious offices have had to ()?
link left out in previous comment … https://youtu.be/cRsaxXrjk3w