aGameOfThrones
04-21-2011, 08:50 PM
A bill being debated in the Oregon Legislature that would crack down on charities that spend too much money on overhead has charities nationwide on alert.
Oregon Attorney General John Kroger wants lawmakers to let him eliminate state tax subsidies for charities that spend more than 70% of their funds on management and fundraising, rather than their charitable missions.
Under the bill, approved by the state Senate last week, donations to those organizations would no longer be tax-deductible, and the charities would have to notify potential donors of that status.
The state House gave the bill its first reading April 12 and referred it to the House Revenue Committee on Monday.
If the bill is approved, Oregon would be the first state to draw such a line with charities, reversing a long struggle by non-profits to avoid such regulation, says Robert Tigner, a lawyer for the Direct Marketing Association's Nonprofit Federation.
"We're philosophically opposed to this way of sorting out which charities are worthy and which ones are not," Tigner said. "The right approach to cracking down on fraudulent charities is to figure out who is doing fraudulent things and then to prosecute them."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-04-22-oregon-charity-scam-bill.htm
Oregon Attorney General John Kroger wants lawmakers to let him eliminate state tax subsidies for charities that spend more than 70% of their funds on management and fundraising, rather than their charitable missions.
Under the bill, approved by the state Senate last week, donations to those organizations would no longer be tax-deductible, and the charities would have to notify potential donors of that status.
The state House gave the bill its first reading April 12 and referred it to the House Revenue Committee on Monday.
If the bill is approved, Oregon would be the first state to draw such a line with charities, reversing a long struggle by non-profits to avoid such regulation, says Robert Tigner, a lawyer for the Direct Marketing Association's Nonprofit Federation.
"We're philosophically opposed to this way of sorting out which charities are worthy and which ones are not," Tigner said. "The right approach to cracking down on fraudulent charities is to figure out who is doing fraudulent things and then to prosecute them."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-04-22-oregon-charity-scam-bill.htm