Liberal suppression : Section 501(c)(3) and the taxation of speech /

Hamburger (Columbia Law) examines Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code for its role in constraining religious, educational, and charitable organizations from expressing freedom of speech and petition. The book is fundamentally about free speech limits, not taxation. Hamburger's concern is primarily with religious organizations, but all such organizations lose their federal tax exemption if they exercise political speech, creating a substantial "tax" on their capacity to practice a constitutionally protected right. The author meticulously presents the concepts behind the section, exploring its philosophical background and context in political theory and the checkered history of balance between suppressing speech and liberal democracy, and ultimately argues that Section 501(c)(3) provisions are unconstitutional. He believes that silencing religious and idealistic ideas in the public debate is a loss to society, making the tax for speech bad policy. Tax scholars would argue that, given the dodgy standing of all special exemptions, a fiscally responsible approach to the same outcome would be to eliminate the tax exemption for all such organizations, thus allowing them full rights to petition without any financial loss from exercise of those rights. The speech tax would be gone. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. --John L. Mikesell, emeritus, Indiana University--Bloomington