This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. It was originally published at The Conversation. When someone mentions nonprofits, chances are you picture homeless shelters, free medical clinics, museums and other groups that you believe…
I’d like tax exempt status
So would this kitty
Next thing you know we won’t be able to tax reiligious scammers either
Me too. I think I’ll declare my house a Bicycle Museum and Educational foundation.
“Every age that has historical status is governed by aristocracies. Aristocracy with the meaning - the best are ruling. Peoples do never govern themselves. That lunacy was concocted by liberalism. Behind its “people’s sovereignty” the slyest cheaters are hiding, who don’t want to be recognized.” ― Joseph Goebbels
Mebbe I could too. And display photos of the 2014 and 2016 Tours de France we attended,
I wonder if anyone will ask what the rationale was for this decision.
There has to have been something that told the IRS this was a great idea.
let me know if you need a couple more bikes.
If I didn’t know this was dishonest I might take you up on that. I have a friend who could probably make a legitimate claim to be a bicycle museum, old team bikes from all the way back to the 1990s and lots of other memorabilia from a lifetime of riding.
As it stands, my wife would kill me, the 8 in the garage are already too much.
So, looking for more tax write-offs with your contributions to the biker museum - seems legit! 
Is this an example of the weaponization of the IRS against conservatives?
I give them away. They come back.
If I gave receipts I doubt there would be a problem. Valuation might be an issue, but I have legitimate receipts for pretty pricy bikes already, I’m sure we can get you up to $24000 in charitable donations.
That right there is a potentially quasi legal tax dodge. I wonder how much it would cost to build a pole barn in say Ephrata or Soap Lake to house the museum and store the donations. A side business for the education foundation would be a bicycle repair workshops where I can exploit local kid (Sorry thinking like a GOPper there), I mean teach kids to repair bicycles for donation to various groups.
My house is in a historical district. I’ll declare it a Victorian wallpaper museum for tax-free purposes. The front parlor still has the original French wallpaper from 1888 on walls and ceiling, that should be enough to qualify.
Actually the businesses downtown in the commercially zoned historic area can get a property tax break for restoration work, but it doesn’t apply to residential zoned areas. It should, because keeping these old piles of wood from falling down is expensive and it supports the local tourism businesses.
This is not a new issue. Eden Stiffman, for example, wrote about it from the standpoint of philanthropical organizations.
As odious as it may seem, not all non-profits exist to do good.
If you’re asking about the rationale to grant the (c)(3) exemption, the IRS simply reviews the application and issues the determination letter if the application is complete. The Form 1023-EZ requires nothing more than identifying the entity, the names and addresses of its principles, and an innocuous statement of its mission. The rest of the application is literally check the right box.
I suppose we couldn’t expect that those forms might be re-considered in light of this incident?
Hell, why not erase all ©(3) exemptions? What benefit to they provide anyway?
And yes, as a regular church goer, I’m ok with taxing the churches (maybe over a certain level of revenue?).
Hell, I’d be okay with just letting churches keep their tax-exempt status on revenue but lose the property tax exemption. In a small town like mine, it shifts the property tax burden that pays for local schools and road improvements onto neighbors who don’t share their beliefs. Maybe we’d have fewer pot holes in the roads if the churches paid property tax.
Their house is a museum
Where people come to see 'em
They really are a scream
The Addams Family
No doubt it was Mortitia who figured the tax dodge and Gomez took it from there.
This! At best, charities divert money that would be tax revenue into purposes that may or may not be a government goal. On Peaks Island, there’s an umbrella cover museum. I don’t know if it has tax exempt status, but I doubt the local, state or federal government would think the goal worth supporting for whatever foregone revenue there was.