“AFJ strongly believes that the proposal in the NPRM to redefine the meaning of ‘social welfare’ activity so as to exclude certain nonpartisan election-related activity goes beyond the statutory authority provided by Congress and will deter a wide-array of legitimate activity which has long-been recognized as promoting the general welfare of the community.”

Alliance for Justice, a leading proponent of nonprofit advocacy, and a prolific publisher of educational materials helping nonprofits navigate the IRS rules on lobbying and politics, comes out strongly against the proposed rules.  AFJ raises some interesting points in its comments regarding Internet advocacy, noting that while the proposed rules purport to draw on FEC definitions of political campaign activity, they neglect to adopt the FEC’s exclusion of “most Internet communications from its definition of public communication.”  65 organizations and close to 200 individuals joined a subsequent sign-on letter to AFJ’s comments.  In it, they ask the IRS to withdraw its first draft and take a “better approach” as the process moves forward.