Social Welfare

Germany made the first large cutbacks in its postwar social welfare program, and the government says more reductions are planned. In a hotly contested move, the upper house of Parliament in Bonn trimmed unemployment benefits, child-support payments and job-retraining programs. The reforms, already approved by the lower house of Parliament, take effect Jan.

Re "501(c)(4)s are the real IRS scandal," Column, May 15 Michael Hiltzik is right. The IRS should put every tax-exempt 501(c)(4) organization under a microscope. Vague tax rules, the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision and the absurd cost of political campaigns create a perfect storm of opportunity for would-be kingmakers. Being partisan myself, when I saw that key words being used to flag suspect organizations included "tea party" and "patriot," I thought, "Well, yes, and the problem is?"

It cost federal, state and local governments $641.7 billion in fiscal 1983 to run all social welfare programs, from public schools to pensions for the elderly to food for the needy, the Social Security Administration said Tuesday. The spending on all social welfare programs was $45.8 billion higher--7.7%--than in fiscal 1982, but these services consumed the same share of the gross national product, 19.4%. Taking inflation into account, the social spending rose by 3.

WASHINGTON - In spring 2010, agents in the Cincinnati office of the Internal Revenue Service, which handles applications for tax-exempt status, faced a surge of filings by new advocacy groups, with little guidance on how to treat them. Their decision to deal with the problem by singling out tea party and other conservative groups for extra scrutiny has now triggered a criminal inquiry, congressional investigations, the departure of two top IRS officials and the naming of a new acting commissioner Thursday.

John M. Wedemeyer, director of the former California Department of Social Welfare from 1959 until he resigned in a dispute with then-Gov. Edmund G. (Pat) Brown in 1966, has died in Sacramento at 81. An official with social welfare agencies in Wyoming and Washington state from 1933 through 1949, Wedemeyer joined the California Department of Social Welfare--later to become the Department of Social Services--in 1950.

As even the most inattentive television viewer knows, a tsunami of political campaign money is flooding onto the airwaves this election year ? more than $3 billion by some estimates. That's so much money that Wall Street is raising its profit forecasts for broadcasting companies as a result. Like almost every pursuit in this free-enterprise country, political campaigning is a business. And, as in many businesses, success often goes not to the entrepreneur who brings a product to market first but to the one who exploits it best.

"She's been expecting a visitor," says the doorman, a taciturn Fifth Avenue type. It's 3:35 p.m., and humid. The white-glove lobby's cool marble cuts quickly through the heat. Upstairs, all is ordered, calm, removed from the city blare. Filled with art and Central Park views, Anna Lou Dehavenon's rambling apartment keeps the sticky streets comfortably distant. The notion of a night in the Bronx is not appealing. But Anna Lou Dehavenon of the Upper East Side is also Dr.

Mention "social welfare organization" and the last thing that comes to mind is a group that expends millions of dollars to influence a federal election. But Crossroads GPS, which spent more than $17 million in 2010 to elect Republicans to Congress, claims to be a social welfare organization — which gives it tax- exempt status and allows it to conceal the identities of its donors. Now two campaign-reform groups have written to the Internal Revenue Service challenging the right of Crossroads GPS and three other organizations to 501(c)

The television ad calling for repeal of the new healthcare law doesn't mince words. "We'll do our spanking on the Congress and show them that we still rule in this country," former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee declares in the spot. The commercial has run nonstop on cable television for several weeks, paid for by Repeal HealthCare Act, one of at least three nonprofit groups formed in recent months to campaign against the healthcare law. By designating themselves under tax law as 501c(4)

County registrar offices across California on Thursday will begin receiving the product of an audacious enterprise — nearly 1.6 million signatures collected by Americans Elect, a group attempting to ride exasperation with the nation's political leaders into a place on the ballot in all 50 states by 2012. Its mission is to upend the traditional party primary process by selecting an alternate presidential ticket through an online , open nominating convention . The goal is bold, but the manner in which Americans Elect is pursuing its aims is highly unorthodox.

It's strange how "scandal" gets defined these days in Washington. At the moment, everyone is screaming about the "scandal" of the Internal Revenue Service scrutinizing conservative nonprofits before granting them tax-exempt status. Here are the genuine scandals in this affair: Political organizations are being allowed to masquerade as charities to avoid taxes and keep their donors secret, and the IRS has allowed them to do this for years. The bottom line first: The IRS hasn't done nearly enough over the years to rein in the subversion of the tax law by political groups claiming a tax exemption that is not legally permitted for campaign activity.

Who's the most influential billionaire business figure in national politics? If you answered one of the Koch brothers (Charles or David) or George Soros, you're wearing your partisan blinders. The former are known for their devotion to conservative causes, the latter to liberal. In either case, you're wrong. The most influential billionaire in America is Peter G. Peterson. The son of Greek immigrants, Peterson, 86, served as Commerce secretary under President Nixon, then became chairman and chief executive of Lehman Bros.

After more than a year of needling the Internal Revenue Service to tighten standards for election spending by nonprofit groups, advocates for campaign finance reform may have finally provoked the agency to make a change. Crossroads GPS on the Republican side, Priorities USA on the Democratic side and other, similar, groups have taken advantage of a provision of the tax code that allows them to shield the names of their donors from public view.  The provision, Sec. 501(c)4 of the code, was originally written for groups whose purpose is to promote social welfare, including local cultural preservation committees or community associations, but because of the anonymity it allows, it has become the favored way to set up entities that seek to influence elections.

Parents who transport a youngster without a car seat and lose the child in a fatal traffic accident may have their surviving children removed by social welfare authorities, the California Supreme Court decided unanimously Thursday. The state high court ruled in favor of Los Angeles County social workers who placed two young boys in foster care after their 18-month-old sister, held on the lap of an aunt, was killed when a driver ran a stop sign and plowed into the car their father was driving.

Americans Elect, a nonprofit group that has set out this year to secure a spot on the ballot in all 50 states for an alternative to the Democratic and Republican presidential tickets, has gathered 1.9 million signatures from individuals who support the idea. The group announced Wednesday that it has qualified for the Ohio ballot and is awaiting certification in California, Utah, Hawaii and Arkansas. It has already gained ballot access in three other key swing states - Florida, Michigan and Nevada - as well as Arizona, Alaska and Kansas.

Mention "social welfare organization" and the last thing that comes to mind is a group that expends millions of dollars to influence a federal election. But Crossroads GPS, which spent more than $17 million in 2010 to elect Republicans to Congress, claims to be a social welfare organization — which gives it tax- exempt status and allows it to conceal the identities of its donors. Now two campaign-reform groups have written to the Internal Revenue Service challenging the right of Crossroads GPS and three other organizations to 501(c)

Re "501(c)(4)s are the real IRS scandal," Column, May 15 Michael Hiltzik is right. The IRS should put every tax-exempt 501(c)(4) organization under a microscope. Vague tax rules, the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision and the absurd cost of political campaigns create a perfect storm of opportunity for would-be kingmakers. Being partisan myself, when I saw that key words being used to flag suspect organizations included "tea party" and "patriot," I thought, "Well, yes, and the problem is?"

Finance Minister Dimitris Tsovolas presented Greece's 1988 budget to Parliament on Wednesday. The program increases government spending substantially on social welfare and to a lesser extent on defense and education.

Last year, as the Karl Rove-backed group Crossroads GPS dumped more than $17 million into helping elect Republicans in congressional districts across the country, a duo of campaign finance reform advocates asked the IRS to investigate the special tax status claimed by Rove's group. As a self-styled “social welfare” group, Crossroads was able to accept unlimited anonymous donations and used the money to air advertisements supporting or opposing candidates.  Today, those same reform advocates have gone back to the IRS with a new complaint aimed not just at Rove's group, but at three others, including one group that was started last spring by former Obama aides.  In a letter sent to the IRS on Wednesday, Democracy 21 and the Campaign Legal Center challenged the social welfare tax status claimed by Crossroads GPS, American Action Network, Priorities USA and Americans Elect.  “The idea that these organizations are social welfare groups is nonsense,” said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21. “The overriding purpose of these groups is to participate in and influence elections, which makes them ineligible for tax exempt status.” Jim Landry, a spokesman for American Action Network - a group that spent $26 million on election advertising in 2010 -- called the IRS petition “a baseless complaint.” “The American Action Network takes its legal responsibilities seriously and complies with all of them,” Landry...

County registrar offices across California on Thursday will begin receiving the product of an audacious enterprise — nearly 1.6 million signatures collected by Americans Elect, a group attempting to ride exasperation with the nation's political leaders into a place on the ballot in all 50 states by 2012. Its mission is to upend the traditional party primary process by selecting an alternate presidential ticket through an online , open nominating convention . The goal is bold, but the manner in which Americans Elect is pursuing its aims is highly unorthodox.