Posted on 03/24/2009 12:47:27 PM PDT by Red Steel
CHICAGO Newspapers perform a public service for democracy and should be allowed to operate as tax-exempt non-profits, U.S. Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D.-Md., proposed Tuesday.
Cardin introduced a bill that would explicitly include newspapers among organizations eligible for 501(c)(3) status. The non-profit status is the same that public radio and television have now.
The legislation would give a national green light for newspapers to adopt the so-called Low Profit Limited Liability Company business model, often shortened to L3C.
The L3C model, which the Newspaper Guild supports as an alternative newspaper ownership model, is the subject of a feature story in the current print issue of Editor & Publisher.
Under Cardin's legislation, newspaper revenue would be tax-exempt, and contributions to papers would be tax deductible. The status would also allow non-profits to invest in newspapers, something that is forbidden now.
Cardin said action is needed to help preserve local newspapers.
"We are losing our newspaper industry," Cardin said in a statement. "The economy has caused an immediate problem, but the business model for newspapers, based on circulation and advertising revenue, is broken, and that is a real tragedy for communities across the nation and for our democracy."
The Associated Press quoted him as saying on the Senate floor, "As local papers are closing, we're losing a valuable tradition in America -- critically important to our communities, critically important to our democracy."
Newspapers that accept non-profit status would not be allowed to endorse candidates, but they could cover political news just as they do now, Cardin said.
Hey, I have an idea, how about making ALL businesses tax exempt? Implement a Fair Tax or Flat Tax and watch the economy go berzerk.
I know, it's too easy for the dolts in Washington to figure this out.
Cardin is not worthy of his office
Everything you said is absolutely and undeniably true.
Just another bailout...
Then again... with the depth of their devotion to the Obamessiah they might as well get a “church-based” tax exemption!!! ;)
Beam me up Scotty. There is no intelligent life down here.
And we all know how impartial NPR and PBS are...
Hey, why not just rename them the “Ministry of Propaganda” and be done with it?
“Newspapers that accept non-profit status would not be allowed to endorse candidates, but they could cover political news just as they do now, Cardin said.”
No kidding, hey? Just as they do now... and make them government owned and non-exempt. They are getting more clever and bolder by the minute.
Actually you do. Lots of state and local taxes are not on profit, they are on assets or activities.
Cardin is a total a******.
It was more to illustrate how true I believe the statement to be true. I was trying to be sarcastic in a Glen Beck sort of way...
My greatgrandfather was a very successful horseshoer, with contracts for shoeing police and fire department horses.
He would NOT have wanted to propose that they get subsidized instead of getting motorized transportation, when the combustion engine became available.
Ummmm, we "lost" the buggy whip industry too.
The Conestoga wagon industry...
And the whaling industry.
And the typewriter industry. Life moves on...
Cardin's an idiot.
Ummmm, we "lost" the buggy whip industry too.
The Conestoga wagon industry...
And the whaling industry.
And the typewriter industry. Life moves on...
Cardin's an idiot. PEOPLE VOTE WITH THEIR DOLLARS IN A FREE COUNTRY. AND IN THIS DEMOCRACY THEY'RE VOTING "NO" TO NEWSPAPERS.
But talk radio is being slammed... The Libs have no conscience.
Yes, you do "get it".
Newspapers, but not news magazines? How about talk radio? How about network news? How about cable news? On and on and on we could go...
Could never have made this sh*t up.
Who's next? TV? Radio? (except of course stations that carry conservative talk shows).
The Rush Tribune, with a Radio adjunct.
The tax code is becoming a patronage system.
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