Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON D.C. U.S. Representative Bill Flores (R-Texas) released the following statement on H.R. 5053 the Preventing IRS Abuse and Protecting Free Speech Act which passed the House on a vote of 240-182:
Today the House passed critical legislation to protect Americans First Amendment right to free speech and assembly. The Preventing IRS Abuse and Protecting Free Speech Act will prevent the Internal Revenue Service from misusing or abusing personal donor information. While the Supreme Court has long upheld that states cannot compel non-profits to disclose their donor information recent actions by the IRS which targeted conservative groups tax-exempt status as well as intimidation efforts by state attorneys general have reinforced the need to eliminate threats to the constitutional rights of non-profit groups. Todays legislation will allow non-profits of all beliefs to continue to exercise their Constitutional rights."
Background:
Tax-exempt non-profit organizations are currently required to file Form 990 Schedule B that lists donors of more than $5000 in the previous calendar year. In several well-documented cases Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees have leaked Schedule B information that contained personal donor information. For example the National Organization for Marriages donor list was
leaked to the Human Rights Campaign in 2012.
In 2013 IRS official Lois Lerner admitted that the IRS withheld tax-exempt status for hundreds of conservative non-profits due to their ideological affiliation. This month - three years after news of the scandal broke - the IRS finally
released a full list of the groups that were targeted.
In the 1958 ruling
NAACP v. Alabama the U.S. Supreme Court held that the state of Alabama could not compel the disclosure of NAACPs membership list.
Congressman Bill Flores represents the 17th District of Texas and is an entrepreneur former energy executive Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Chairman of the Republican Study Committee (RSC) and member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
