Talk about a bully pulpit...

There is a group of religious leaders who want to challenge a law that I happen to believe in.  It's the Johnson Act of 1954.  It's purpose was to prevent non-profit, charitable organizations from engaging in political activities.

There's a sound reason behind this law (several actually).  Primarily, to prevent people from taking a charitable deduction for money they give that is used for political purposes.  Picture it this way.  The Koch brothers have billions already, and spend tens of millions on political activities.  Assuming for a moment that they pay the top tax rate of 35% on some of their millions in annual income, being able to make donations for political purposes would greatly enhance the value of those donations.

Take a $5 million dollar donation that they made this year to a PAC.  If that PAC was actually a recognized charity and they could deduct this contribution (and assuming that their adjusted gross income was more than $10 million in 2012), then Uncle Sam is paying 35% or $1.75 million of that donation in lost tax revenue.

That's just wrong.  Never mind that if we're going to have a complete separation of church and state in government, then church needs to stay out of the business of influencing who serves in government.  I don't want to go to practice my faith and have my religious leader telling me how to vote and who to vote for.

It's the same for non-religious non-profits.  Take my former employer.  Please (just kidding).  It's a school.  Should the school be in the business of influencing which candidates get into state office, when those candidates are involved in regulating the school?  They could support candidates who promise to pass legislation favorable to private schools.  AIDS Project L.A. is a wonderful organization, but it shouldn't be working to put officials into state and federal office who will spend more money on AIDS programs that they themselves administer.  It's a form of corruption that the Johnson Act was designed to prevent.

Some will tell you that this is a violation of the First Amendment right of people who work for non-profits to free speech.  That's not the case.  They have the same free speech rights as everyone else, in their private lives.  But as representatives of charities that have applied for and received exemption from taxation, they accepted limits in return for exemption from taxation.  If you can't handle the limits, stop being a non-profit charity and say whatever you want to, personally and professionally.