Exempt from Taxes, Not the Law

The Des Moines Register devoted major real estate on its editorial page yesterday and today calling for greater government oversight of nonprofits and the public release of penalties imposed on those found in noncompliance of laws, respectively. The knee-jerk answer is to decry such calls — using the phrase “witch hunt” liberally — and point out that government has far more pressing problems to address. Yet the fact is that nonprofit malfeasance — especially among tax-exempt nonprofits — puts an unfair strain on those in the private and for-profit sectors that are paying their fair share, it robs the public of resources that could be used for health-care and educational initiatives, to name just a couple of things, and it smears honest nonprofits with the dreaded guilt-by-association brush. I’m afraid the Register is right. If the sector is unwilling or unable to police itself, then We the People will have to do it for them. It’s for everyone’s good. | 501(c)