Ben Gose's recent article “Meet the Man Who Wants to Tax Most of the Nonprofit World” (May 8) misses the mark in its critique of the Community Impact Coalition. As co-chairs of the coalition, we believe the piece overlooks the value our members bring to society.
The article repeats familiar arguments from Scott Hodge, a longtime critic of nonprofit tax structures and a senior advisor at Arnold Ventures — a $4.3 billion LLC funded by former Enron trader John Arnold, who made the company $750 million during its collapse. In the past, Hodge has dismissed trade and professional organizations like ours as “special interests,” ignoring the fact that many such groups often step in when the government and private sector can't.
In the article, Gose writes that only a few of the coalition’s members are public charities and questions whether it would be “devastating if some of the members of this particular coalition had to pay more in taxes.” But Gose, like Hodge, misses the forest for the trees and ignores the real, direct impact these nonprofits have on America.
Please select this link to read the complete article from The Chronicle of Philanthropy.