Final Tax Bill Will Not Include a Provision Allowing Churches to Endorse Political Candidates

Reports have indicated that the final tax bill will not include a repeal of the Johnson Amendment, a change that would have allowed charitable organizations organized as  501(c)3 nonprofits to engage in political campaigns on behalf of (or in opposition to) candidates for public office.

Brendan Fischer, director, federal and FEC reform at Campaign Legal Center (CLC) released the following statement:

“There is no reason that secretive billionaires should get a tax deduction for their dark money political contributions, and we are glad that this provision was stripped from the final bill. The outpouring of opposition to the rollback from voters, faith leaders, the nonprofit community, and transparency advocates stopped this ill-advised provision for now. But big money political donors still want a tax break for their secret contributions and we must remain vigilant so that similar language is not included in future legislation.”