ASAE talks back to USA Today.

When a USA Today editorial criticized nonprofit organizations for earning substantial nondues revenue and recommended a tax on such organizations' commercial ventures, ASAE advanced its counterargument on the same page.

ASAE's response is but one of several it has made to recent attacks by the media - including Business Week, the Boston Globe, and ABC News - regarding the tax-exempt status of nonprofit organizations. Here is an excerpt of ASAE's opposing response by President R. William Taylor, CAE, as it appeared in the June 20, 1995, issue of USA Today.

"Nonprofit organizations already pay taxes on their commercial income - at the same corporate rates paid by for-profit businesses. The major tax bite for nonprofits is called the unrelated business income tax, which was enacted by Congress to ensure a level playing field when nonprofits conduct activities unrelated to their tax-exempt purposes. . . . A recent congressional study found that unrelated business income taxes collected [TABULAR DATA OMITTED] from Section 501(c) (4) of the tax code - just one of 27 possible 501(c) nonprofit categories - increased from $500,000 in 1990 to more than $138 million in 1994. Nonprofits also pay many other business taxes, including federal payroll taxes, state and local unemployment taxes, real estate taxes, personal property taxes, sales taxes, and franchise taxes. . . . In recent years, economic realities have forced nonprofits to turn to income sources - both related and unrelated - other than dues, contributions, and federal funding to carry out [their] missions. Forcing greater reliance on dues and contributions would have a correspondingly adverse effect on the ability of nonprofits to fulfill their tax-exempt purposes - just when Congress has asked nonprofits to expand their roles so that government can abandon certain types of programs to the private sector."

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ASAE NOTES

* Two ASAE staff members won APEX '95 Awards for Publication Excellence presented by Communications Concepts, Inc., Springfield, Virginia. G. Blane Withers, director of marketing services, received an award in the brochure design and illustration category for ASAE's 12th Management Conference program brochure. Fern Brown, marketing manager, received an award in the informational/educational brochure category for ASAE's 1994-1995 education schedule.

* Congratulations to ASAE Education Director Anne Blouin, CAE, who was inducted into the ASAE Winners Circle for sponsoring 35 or more new members.