Archive for February, 2010
EO Tax Journal 2010-33
1 — Personal Recollections (feel free to skip)
I confess — I read the obituary page of the Baltimore Sun. Octogenarian Louis E. Queral died on February 24. As a kid, I knew Louis was an M.D. from his framed diplomas when I visited his son, Luis. His son enrolled in my grade school in 1959 as a seventh grader, shortly after his family had emigrated from Cuba. Apparently Luis’ family was on good terms with Fidel Castro, despite leaving Cuba. When Castro came to the United States — I recall to speak at the United Nations in 1960 — Luis’ family was there to greet him and Luis came back with a photo of him with a beaming Fidel. At that time the great debate was whether Castro was a Communist. While my grade school classmates were generally apolitical, we had a few big mouths who, finding that Luis defended Castro, would berate him during recess, yelling that Castro was a Communist and that anyone defending him must be a Communist, too. Luis got his revenge a few years later, when all the girls in the neighborhood decided Luis was hot — think a young Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz).
EO Tax Journal 2010-32
1 – IRS Revokes PLR 200709065
I shouldn’t criticize the IRS for getting PLR 200709065 wrong, since I’ve said they should rule within a reasonable period of time and, if they get it wrong, fix it later.
EO Tax Journal 2010-31
Yesterday’s Washington Post had an article on an unusual “church” in “C Street House Is Target of Clergy’s IRS Complaint.” An article in the Columbus Dispatch is reprinted below, along with a complaint letter to the IRS prepared by the law firm of Caplin & Drysdale, Washington.
Continue…
EO Tax Journal 2010-30
As promised, here’s a transcript of Sarah Hall Ingram’s February 5 remarks. Sarah continues the tradition of the TE/GE Commissioner (and before that, the AC (EP/EO) being primarily an Employee Plans person. I think that reflects the fact that Exempt Organizations is #2 in the TE/GE hierarchy. I guess that’s better than being #3 (Government Entities).
EO Tax Journal 2010-29
God willing and the Creek don’t rise, I should have a transcript of Sarah Hall Ingram’s February 5 remarks in the next day or two. Speaking of Sarah and her domain, I think most people are coming around to the reality that we have a serious problem with charity regulation in this country. Now everyone is trying to come up with solutions, which is good, but most of the proposed solutions seem to me to come with their own problems. In this vein, The Chronicle of Philanthropy had two interesting viewpoint articles in its February 25 issue.