Court Backs IRS Political Disclosure Law

Tax exempt="tax subsidy." To not be taxed is to be subsidized. If you want to assert your 1st Amendment rights, you may be required to give up your "subsidy." Clear enough?

A federal appeals court has upheld a law requiring some nonprofit political groups to report contributions and expenditures to the IRS, saying the Constitution does not guarantee what amounts to a tax subsidy.

"Congress has enacted no barrier to the exercise of the (political groups') constitutional rights," the court wrote. "Rather, Congress has established certain requirements that must be followed in order to claim the benefit of a public tax subsidy."