Campact complains about taxpayers' association
In 2019, the campaign organization Campact lost its non-profit status because it was too politically active. According to the association, this also applies to the German Taxpayers' Association. It is calling for the association to also be stripped of its status.
The campaign organization Campact has complained to tax offices about six state associations of the German Taxpayers' Association (BdSt). According to the campaigners, the lobbying association is wrongly granted non-profit status because it is heavily involved in politics. According to Campact, the main aim of the complaint is to initiate a new debate on non-profit status. Charitable activities are those that serve the general public. Organizations that are charitable are, for example, associations, foundations or institutions.
Campact and the globalization-critical network Attac lost their non-profit status a few years ago following a decision by the Federal Fiscal Court. Without charitable status, donors cannot deduct their donations from their taxes. This is a serious blow for the organizations because they are largely financed by donations.
The Federal Fiscal Court had determined that influencing public opinion in one's own interests is not charitable as political education work. Campact now argues that the taxpayers' association also regularly takes a public stance on political decisions "in order to assert its own positions and demands". For example, the BdSt vehemently demanded the abandonment of a wealth tax before the last federal election, said Campact board member Felix Kolb.
"We want to demonstrate the imbalance"
The association is of the opinion that the six regional associations of the Taxpayers' Association in Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse, Thuringia, Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen/Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt should lose their non-profit status. It is basing this decision on a legal opinion it commissioned itself on the activities of the BdSt.
The six state associations that Campact has now complained about all have the same statutory purpose as Attac and should therefore be treated in the same way, according to the organization. "Campact is not interested in taking anything away from the taxpayers' association," emphasized Kolb. "With our complaint, we want to demonstrate the imbalance in the interpretation of non-profit law using the example of an association with a wide reach."
The unequal treatment of politically active civil society is detrimental to organizations that campaign for human rights, democracy, climate protection and social justice. The non-profit law is to be politically revised. Campact expects a draft bill for early 2024. The organization is calling for commitment to fundamental and human rights, democracy, anti-discrimination, social justice and peace to be recognized as non-profit. Legislators should, for example, allow sports clubs to call for demonstrations against racism.
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The Taxpayers' Association has faced criticism from Campact, who argue that the Federation Fiscal Court should reevaluate the association's non-profit status due to its political involvement, similar to the case with Campact and Attac a few years ago in Berlin. Campact has filed complaints against six state associations of the Taxpayers' Association, claiming that they are wrongly granted non-profit status due to their political activities.
Source: www.ntv.de
