The IRS Scam
Florida Smokers Filing IRS Complaint against Smoke Free Groups
To whom it may concern,
I am a member of a group of concerned citizens and recently came across information regarding some of these so called non-profit groups with filings of 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) and their activities in the political arenas of various areas...in our case, Florida.
My motivation is simply that I, my family, my friends and all other honest citizens pay their due taxes and it is unfair when some organization, no matter how large or small, feels it can dodge paying its’ fair share while hiding under a charitable umbrella.
In specific, the American Cancer Society, the American Lung Association and the American Heart Association all partake in extensive lobbying in various states. In our case, they formed and financed the Florida organization called Smoke Free for Health for the sole purpose of putting a constitutional amendment on a state election ballot. This effort cost in excess of 6 million dollars of donated and federal moneys funneled through the ACS, ALA and AHA. Since the election, Smoke Free for Health has merged back into a nationwide organization called the Tri-Agency Coalition which, of course, is made up of those 3 famous charities I previously mentioned. Please note the “charitable organization” put this on the ballot. Which as substantially more than simply influencing the legislature.
As I understand it, a charity with a 501 filing may take part in “influencing legislature” provided they don’t spend a substantial amount of their moneys to do so. Since the effort put into this one action cost over $6,000,000 I cannot imagine how much they must be spending in the hundreds of small and large cities and counties…not even to mention the massive expenditures they make in their efforts in each state to get restrictive laws passed that suit their agendas. These organizations are squandering millions of federal, state, county and donated funds from private citizens to lobby and even actively participate in law making and ballot initiatives. In many cases, they are funneling these donated and tax dollar funds into “front” organizations to meet their agenda of political power.
The Smoke Free for Health organization here in Florida spends virtually all of its’ moneys (which are mainly donated by those same big 3 “charities”) on lobbying and offering instructional seminars and educational materials to others on how to get a constitutional amendment against smoking in public passed. This seems more like a political organization than a charitable one. Particularly since this strategy will work for any political goal one may have. I’m including the web page URL of the ACS to show their agenda for the Florida legislature for 2004. I’m also including the location of the .pdf file from Smoke Free for Health where that organization is fully described including the ACS, ALA and AHA being the main seats on the board of directors of this organization.
As I also understand it, no organization that partakes in lobbying can receive federal moneys, yet those 3 big charities do. And I would think funneling the money into a “charity” they, themselves created, would not nullify these strictures.
Furthermore, it appears IRS regulations require that moneys used for lobbying – if they are donations from the private sector – are NOT deductible and that said charities are required to inform the donators (tax payers) which portion of the donation is for lobbying purposes and, therefore, is NOT tax deductible. To my knowledge, these organizations are not following this policy.
This is the ACS’s page which lists their schedule for the Florida legislature for 2004:
You will note as one of their agendas, they say:
“SMOKE-FREE FOR HEALTH
“MONITOR the enforcement of statutes that implement the smoke-free enclosed indoor workplace constitutional amendment.” – this should clearly indicate the ACS and Smoke Free for Health are one and the same and that they are participating in the enforcement of law.
This is the American Heart Assoc. and the American Cancer Society page advertising the seminar referred to above:
“How To Organize and Run a Successful Statewide Ballot Campaign”
Please pay special attention to the line from this page:
“Ballot initiatives can also galvanize public opinion and increase hostility toward tobacco in general…”
This seems to indicate they are attempting to create a non-tolerance and even hatred towards those in disagreement. Is it still within the stated mission when a goal is to create intolerance to the point of hatred for those that disagree with them?
This page is the breakdown of Smoke Free for Health and what they actually do. As I know they filed a 501(c)(4), unless their stated mission is to modify state constitutions, make and enforce law, they have exceeded what one may refer to as lobbying.
http://ncth.confex.com/ncth/responses/2002/287.pdf
According to their own description, one of the expected outcomes is to “improve political strength”.
One other thought is all of these organizations are not only receiving regular tax dollars from different levels of government (including federal moneys), I believe they also receive moneys from the tobacco settlement…which, of course, are federal dollars.
There are literally hundreds of these types of “satellite” groups having federal moneys funneled to them…that means our government is getting a very large shortfall of cash that could otherwise help keep our taxes down. I’m sure all taxpayers would greatly appreciate if you would check into this possible malfeasance.
As I was reading on the IRS web site about rules governing the activities of these non-profit organizations, it occurred to me each of the 4 mentioned were violating at least one of the tax free status requirements. From just a quick perusal of only the ACS’s moneys and holdings online, it looks like they may be worth as much as $70 billion.
With this in mind, I am formally requesting an IRS investigation into Smoke Free for Health (Florida branch), the American Cancer Society, The American Heart Association and the American Lung Association and the possible discontinuation of their tax free status as a charity as they have become mainly political organizations.
Thank you for your time and consideration,
Sincerely,
Brian D. Cadle
Florida
Internal Revenue Service
Atlanta, GA, 39901-0002
RE: Addendum to Original Complaint
To Whom It May Concern:
According to Florida law, as it applies to sponsors of constitutional amendments, an organization MUST file as a "political committee" prior to taking any action whatsoever regarding an amendment they are sponsoring. How can any of the following organizations be tax-exempt when they are required by law to file as a political committee?
The American Heart Association is a sponsor of Amendment 6. The American Heart Association's Florida/Puerto Rico Affiliate is an original sponsor of Amendment 6, the Smoke-Free for Health initiative. Please refer to the AHA press release dated July 18, 2002. http://www.smoke-freeforhealth.com/pressreleases/020718_aha.htm
The Florida Division of the American Cancer Society is also involved as a co-sponsor of Amendment 6. The following press story dated June 29, 2003 establishes this. http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/local/6194243.htm
The next quote is from a press article dated March 2003. "The sponsors of Amendment 6 included a number of well-known public health organizations, such as the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association and American Lung Association." http://www.hklaw.com/Publications/Newsletters.asp?ID=354&Article=1988
I would like to reiterate that Smoke Free for Health, Inc. is filed as a non-profit, tax-exempt charity. This seems to be a major contradiction since it is simply an offshoot of the ACS, AHA and ALA, as indicated in my previous correspondence. With this in mind, unless the IRS grants tax-exempt status to "political committees", these organizations cannot be tax-exempt.
I would like this additional data included in my original complaint to the IRS requesting an investigation since, as I understand it, the IRS is the main monitoring agency of tax-exempt, charitable organizations.
Thank you again for your time,
Sincerely,
Brian Cadle
Member, Florida Rights
Also read:
Activist Inc.
Professional agitators can't claim to be a "grassroots" movement anymore.
ActivistCash.com
A project of the Center for Consumer Freedom, provides the public and media with in-depth profiles of anti-consumer activist groups, along with information about the sources of their exorbitant funding.
Diversion of Federal Cancer Funds To Politics
The book also shows how politically-connected "charities" such as the American Cancer Society, the American Lung Association, and the American Heart Association brazenly disregard IRS regulations against lobbying and scramble for taxpayer dollars. Supposedly to discourage smoking, cigarette taxes have funded parties with free food, free drinks, free deejay music, free beach balls, and free Frisbees.
The American Cancer Society
By Dr. James T. Bennett. Donors must look beyond the ACS's fund-raising rhetoric and insist on information about its actual activities.
California's Proposition 99: Pork Barrel for Anti-Smoking Groups
By Dr. Thomas J. DiLorenzo. To protect themselves against the loss of tax revenue, the coalition pushed for a statewide referendum, Proposition 99, to change the state constitution so that the spending limit would not apply.
Warning
Don't let anti-tobacco group's `nonprofit' label fool you.
The Pharms and the Non-Profits: Buying Respectability and So Much More
By Wanda Hamilton. These organizations are very much involved with politics and with chasing governmental and corporate dollars.
Smoker Fumes & Fights Back
Defending right to light up. By GREG WILSON . Brooklyn cop Audrey Silk says she is out to arrest the tobacco police - while protecting fellow smokers from unfair taxes and the pariah treatment.
Improper Activity By A Charitable Organization
Letter to the IRS from Audrey Silk, NYC C.L.A.S.H.
Big bucks behind tobacco war
KENNETH P. VOGEL; The News Tribune; April 10, 2004
Former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop is no longer on the air pitching a statewide indoor smoking ban, but questions linger about the $100,000 advertising campaign.
The questions are part of a wider debate about who's behind the increasingly tense tobacco war in Pierce County and statewide.
Businesses that oppose smoking bans like the one in Pierce County allege that a state group funded mostly by an $8 billion New Jersey foundation is violating state law by failing to report how much it received and spent on its effort to restrict smoking in Washington state.
Anti-smoking advocates fire back that business interests fighting the ban are secretly doing the tobacco industry's bidding.
"That's a crock," said Linda Matson, executive director of the Entertainment Industry Coalition. The Olympia-based lobbying group has fought the Pierce County ban and efforts to expand it, claiming that such policies will bankrupt many of the nontribal minicasinos and other entertainment businesses the group represents.
Though the group last year took $2,500 from Philip Morris USA's parent company, Matson said tobacco companies have rebuffed her requests to help fund her group's current efforts.
On the other side, Washington BREATHE, a coalition of health groups that started airing the Koop ads in January, received $988,000 from the New Jersey-based Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in 2002.
Matson, in a complaint to the state's Public Disclosure Commission, contends that Washington BREATHE is misleading the public - and violating state lobbying laws - by not reporting that money.
Though her group has found itself at the center of the debate over tobacco control in Pierce County and statewide, Matson said the issue for her members is business owners' rights.
"Businesses and their employees are the victims of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and their smoke-free states agenda," Matson said.
BREATHE Director Kevin Knox said local health groups got together on their own in early 2002 to form the organization and apply for the Johnson grant.
"This is not about some entity from New Jersey telling Washington state what to do," Knox said. "This is about Washington state deciding it wants to change."
The Johnson foundation issued the 2002 grant to Washington BREATHE through its SmokeLess States National Tobacco Policy Initiative. The foundation said the grant was for "mobilizing grass-roots advocates for the elimination of secondhand smoke in public places," according to the initiative's Web site.
The state's Public Disclosure Commission requires people or groups engaged in lobbying at the statewide level to report where they got their money and how they spent it.
Washington BREATHE has yet to do so, prompting Matson's complaint.
Commission spokesman Doug Ellis said at least one of the three variations of the Koop ad seemed to constitute lobbying. If the commission reaches that conclusion, BREATHE could be fined for failing to file lobbying reports or filing them late. Ellis said he didn't know when the commission would consider Matson's complaint.
Washington BREATHE spokeswoman Abbi Kaplan said the commission originally informed the group that it didn't have to file. But she said that after the Koop ads, the group re-evaluated its position and decided to file lobbying reports "to be safe." The filing is expected any day.
But the Johnson foundation prohibits its money from being used for lobbying, so Knox said BREATHE's reports will show that its component groups, not Robert Wood Johnson, paid to air two of the three Koop ads.
If Washington BREATHE files lobbying reports that don't reflect the foundation's contribution, Matson charged, the group would be skirting the intent of the state's lobbying law.
"The whole purpose behind public disclosure is people's right to know who's supporting things," said Matson. "Don't they want Washington voters to know that they're trying to buy a ban to put these people out of business? If you've got nothing to hide, report it."
Kenneth P. Vogel: 360-754-6093
ken.vogel@mail.tribnet.com
SIDEBAR: The players
Washington BREATHE Alliance: www.wabreathe.org
Composed of the state branches of the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association and American Lung Association, the Washington Asian Pacific Islander Families Against Substance Abuse and the Center for Multicultural Health. The group pushed the Legislature to adopt a statewide version of the Pierce County ban.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: www.rwjf.org
The New Jersey-based nonprofit gives grants for health care-related causes, including $988,000 in 2002 through its SmokeLess States National Tobacco Policy Initiative to the Washington BREATHE Alliance.
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department also expects to receive a grant from the foundation to help defray the costs of defending the countywide indoor smoking ban against the Entertainment Industry Coalition's lawsuit.
Entertainment Industry Coalition: www.eicoalition.org
A group of bars, restaurants, minicasinos and other nontribal businesses that sued to overturn Pierce County's indoor smoking ban. The group also lobbied the Legislature to block a statewide version of the ban pushed by the Washington BREATHE Alliance, and filed an initiative to the November ballot to counter a tougher proposal pushed by another anti-smoking group. The coalition's director filed a public disclosure complaint against Washington BREATHE.
Just another anti-smoking organization and another list for your records of monetary grants coming from the TTAC, RWJF, and Legacy Foundation to universities for anti-smoking and anti-alcohol studies and programs. http://www2.edc.org/cchs/projects.html Note the following four projects and note how RWJF may be hiding references to tobacco and anti-smoking activities by using the new acronym for "and other drugs" or "alchohol and other drugs" (AOD), (that's nothing new, but it warrants repeating):The College Tobacco Prevention Resource (CTPR) is an online resource that provides practical information, ideas, and guidance to college leaders involved with tobacco prevention. Funding for this project is provided by the Tobacco Technical Assistance Consortium.
The Presidents Leadership Group (PLG) was formed with funding from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to bring national attention to alcohol and other drug prevention on college and university campuses through presidential leadership. PLG members serve as national leaders in alcohol and other drug prevention, working with a community of higher education officials dedicated to this issue.
The Statewide Initiatives Leadership Institute (SILI) series offers prevention professionals assistance in developing and supporting state-level coalitions to address college substance abuse issues. Funding for this professional development opportunity is provided by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Smoke-Free Cost Analysis Project: Funded by the American Legacy Foundation, this one-year study examined the economic and other benefits of implementing smoke-free residence hall policies in colleges and universities. Through record examination and conducting interviews with personnel from a variety of offices, such as Health Services, Residence Life, Facilities, Risk Management, and Alumni Affairs, this study demonstrated the positive impacts of “doing the right thing” with regard to tobacco policies. Visit the final report page to learn more about the findings of this study.
I'm having a hard time following the money trails of all these "orgs" from what I've read so far, but it appears the CCHS is run by the Education Center, Inc, another 501(c)(3) non-profit org: http://main.edc.org/about/default.asp
Frank
In response to a Newsletter Reader:
September 30, 2006
Mark,
You may be interested to know that TTAC was initially funded by the American Cancer Society, the American Legacy Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. We are no longer funded by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation or the ACS.
Thank you for your inquiry.
Rachel Lea, MPH, CHES
Training and Information Manager
Tobacco Technical Assistance Consortium
Rollins School of Public Health
Emory University
Atlanta, GA
404-727-4106
rlea@sph.emory.edu
www.ttac.org