I don't think any groups involved in politics should be tax exempt period. When conservative groups pop up with tons of money to run ads and such, it does raise questions. The IRS has every right to scrutinize applications for tax exempt status if a group seems to be too political to be deemed tax exempt. No organization is entitled to tax exempt status, there are specifications.
The point. Political groups can style themselves as 'educational' when the only 'educating' that they do is to give hints that certain politicians are to be preferred.
If I give money to a political party or the campaign fund of a politician, then I rightly get no tax break. It is not as if I am making a donation to a welfare hospital or famine relief because such is charity from which I have little cause for expecting benefits.
To allow people to take tax deductions for contributions to political campaigns subsidizes people trying to buy political influence. A tax-exempt organization also gets a break on state sales taxes, also a subsidy.
You can call a bull a cow, but it will still not give milk.
Most of the political-leaning organizations organize as
501(c)(4) social welfare organizations. While the organizations themselves are generally tax-exempt, contributors are not allowed a tax deduction for their contributions and amounts spent on direct political activity (i.e. advocating a particular candidate) are taxed.
