Tax exemption masquerade

With political organizations like the Center for American Progress running on a $38 million annual budget and every penny probably being written off as a charitable donation, don’t we need some kind of tax reform to halt the continued building of these third-party governments?

An example of how many Democratic organizations there are is that, in 2004, George Soros gave $23.58 million to various groups dedicated to defeating President George W. Bush. That’s just Democrats. How many billions of dollars are donated to Republican organizations through charitable contributions every year?

Shouldn’t we stop the arms race for who can build the largest third-party government to control the nation and its lobbies? These tax-exempt gifts far exceed what it would take to run a national health-care system and should be allowed only if the money goes to a charitable organization, school or other important function in the community.

Congress could restructure the tax code so that the 40-hour work week is reinstituted and employers could provide a greater portion of health care costs so we could maintain a lower minimum wage.

This story was originally published May 19, 2016 at 5:50 PM with the headline "Tax exemption masquerade."