I read with dismay that Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez voted in favor of H.R. 9495, the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act.
The official title is: To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to postpone tax deadlines and reimburse paid late fees for United States nationals who are unlawfully or wrongfully detained or held hostage abroad, to terminate the tax-exempt status of terrorist supporting organizations, and for other purposes.
Hidden within that mishmash is the wording that has raised alarms throughout the nonprofit community: “for other purposes.” The law, should it pass the Senate and be signed, gives broad authority to the Treasury Department to terminate the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit, with no guardrails preventing abuse of that authority. In the wrong hands, with the wrong mindset, that clause can be used to destroy any nonprofit that crosses the powers that be by deeming it a “terrorist” organization.
I do not know if Gluesenkamp Perez read beyond the first phrase in the resolution, which is noble of concept but serves little real purpose. It is a smokescreen to hold power over any tax-exempt organization that might express a difference of opinion.
