Some Important Points Regarding World Can’t Wait and 501 (c) (3) Tax-exempt Status:

Some particular ways
this has come up are:  “World Can’t Wait is about driving out
Bush, which is not permissible for 501 c 3 groups.”  “World can’t Wait is an ‘advocacy’ group, which is not
permissible or is severely restricted (in the case of lobbying.)” People cite two cases
where the IRS has gone after organizations
on 501c3 grounds for speeches against Bush –
The All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, CA
and the NAACP.  In fact, these cases do
not apply to World Can’t
Wait.  These points are written to clear
up any confusion so we can all work together to get this movement to drive out
the Bush regime to a whole other level, urgently!  The world can’t
wait!

A.  Groups are within their rights and within
their 501c3 status when they endorse the World Can’t Wait Call,
when they rent buses and speak as a group at Bush Step Down protests, and when
they contribute to World Can’t Wait through its fiscal
sponsor for its educational activities. 
Doing any of these does not put
your 501c3 in violation of tax law.  
This conclusion is based on consultation with an attorney familiar with
501c3 law. 

World
Can’t Wait is a
not-for-profit corporation in good standing that has not itself filed for 501
(c)(3) tax-exempt status and does not have it. 

However
it is not required that 501c3 groups only participate in or endorse activities
called by groups with 501c3 status. 
501c3s can participate in a wide range of charitable and educational
activities, and do so all the time, including initiating and endorsing protests
of various sorts aimed at bringing to the attention of the public grievous
problems and outrages, like the waging of unjust wars, torture, ripping up of
the right to abortion, and many other things spoken to in the World Can’t Wait Call, and more.

What
501c3s  are NOT allowed to do are:

1)   support or oppose a candidate for political
office during an election campaign.

2)   have a “substantial” part of its activities
involved in support of, or in opposition to, legislation (i.e., lobbying);

A
501 c 3 organization cannot support these prohibited activities.  But endorsing the Call for to Drive out the
Bush regime, which puts before all the outrages of this administration program
and the need for people themselves to take responsibility for changing this
whole course by driving out the Bush regime does NOT fall within these
criteria.

Regarding 
#1 above:  Bush is very
clearly NOT a candidate for public office, nor is anyone in his
administration.  This is not an election
campaign and nothing about World Can’t
Wait’s activities
relate to any election, including the 2008 election.  It is not “partisan” in the sense that
Republicans or anyone else can be part of WCW.

The
All Saints and the NAACP cases do not apply to World Can’t Wait, except in the sense that the IRS,
no matter what the actual rules, may
politically target a group.  But that is
a different question than what you are legally allowed to do.   Both the All Saints and NAACP cases were
triggered by talks given in October 2004, during an electoral season.  The IRS claims that the speeches were prohibited
because they were electioneering and opposing
Bush as a candidate, but in fact that is wrong.  They were speaking against Bush’s policies (on the Iraq War
and other issues) which is  allowed. Clear examples of this are given in the IRS’s own published booklet on
guidelines for Churches.  These cases
need to be fought –
they were fully within their rights.

If
people are confused about this and believe All Saints or the NAACP were not
acting within their rights because they were “electioneering”, or that World Can’t Wait is about advocating
for or against a candidate –
it is important to clear up these misconceptions because it undermines people’s ability to fight for
their rights and against the broader policies of the Bush regime that need to
be brought to light and opposed.  This
ends up ceding ground to Bush and the IRS.

2)
WCW is not about lobbying, the other activity prohibited by IRS
501c3 code.  This is not an impeachment
movement, it is not lobbying for legislation. 
It is about people, on the basis of looking at the reality of what is
going on, taking responsibility themselves to stop it through their own
independent action.

3)
Tax laws permit 501c3s to argue a point of view, without having to present both
sides of an issue. (This is something else that has come up.) 

4)
While tax law also prohibits engaging in “propaganda” or inflammatory language,
this vague term has been interpreted to include only unsubstantiated rhetoric – as opposed to taking a
position and supporting it with facts. 
The “your
governments” at the
beginning of the Call are true facts that need to be brought to the public’s attention, (as well as
the points in the rest of the Call –
for example “no
savior from the Democrats”
or “radically remaking
society in a fascist direction” or” people look at
Bush and think of Hitler”
or “that which you do
not resist you will learn or be forced to accept”
or “history is full of
examples where people who had right on their side….”). 
Daily, new articles on the WCW website further help people see the truth
of these points, and the truth of the need to drive out the Bush regime if we
want to change this course. 

For
purposes of making tax-deductible contributions, World Can’t Wait is a project
sponsored by another 501 c 3 (Alliance
for Global Justice) which allows it to receive tax-deductible contributions for
its educational activities.

Many
groups have endorsed, sponsored programs, contributed funds, participated in
protests with no question that this is within their legal rights as tax-exempt
organizations.

B.   “That
which you do not resist and mobilize to stop you will learn to – or be forced  – to
accept.”

The
government has historically used tax-investigations to target those who oppose
its policies, and this is going on today, perhaps in an accelerated way.  OMB Watch (www.OMBwatch.org)
has written reports (“Death
by a Thousand Cuts”
series) exposing recent history on this, and there have been the
well-publicized cases of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, and the NAACP – both stemming from
October 2004 involving speeches that opposed Bush’s
policies but which did not speak directly to his candidacy (so it was
legal).  At the same time, we witnessed
Bush’s right-wing
church base do all kinds of things much more directly conveying their support
for his election.

This
use of the tax code for political repression has put a chill on churches and
other 501 c 3 groups.  Too much their
approach has been to self-censor in the name of avoiding the possibility of
triggering an IRS investigation.  They self-restrict and limit activities that
are legally protected in the 501 c 3
tax code — like legally protected speech against Bush’s policies and the direction he is leading
society.  This has often been at the
advice of their attorneys – not
because the activity isn’t
allowed by the law, but because of the risk of triggering an investigation for
political reasons.

But
self-censoring with the false hope of trying to hold on to and protect ground
as it is cut from beneath you by intimidation and threats – or even by new laws and
legal interpretations (as we’ve
seen recently with the “legality
of torture” or Bush’s claim to the right to act
beyond laws to spy or do anything else in “a
time of war”) does no
good.  It is a recipe for constantly
losing ground to the whole onslaught.  It
is the process through which new police state precedents, laws and norms are
accommodated, and locked into place.  It
does great harm. “That
which you will not resist and mobilize to stop, you will learn – or be forced – to accept.”

C.  “There
is no escaping it: the whole disastrous course of the Bush regime must be
STOPPED.  And we must take responsibility
to do it.”