Supreme Court Eyes Rich Activists, Their Anonymous Donations And Tax Breaks
At the Supreme Court Monday, a case involving rich conservatives and liberals, their anonymous charitable donations, and tax breaks.
At issue is a California law, similar to laws in others states, that requires tax-exempt charities to file with the state a list of their large donors â a copy, in fact, of the list they file annually with the IRS.
The IRS form, to be attached to the state filing, reports the names and addresses of all donors who give $5,000 to the charity, or more than 2% of the total donations. Under both federal and California Law, the names and addresses are confidential, and it is illegal to disclose them publicly.
In 2012, the Americans fortax-exempt nonprofitbacked by the conservative Koch brothers, and the Thomas More Law Center, another conservative group, refused to comply with the confidential disclosure requirement. They claimed that to do so would violate their First Amendment right to freedom of association and that it would subject their donors to potential harassment. A federal appeals court ruled against them, and they appealed to the Supreme Court.
