Read full brief here.
https://ifs-site.mysitebuild.com/2014/04/14/ccp-v-harris-plaintiffs-reply-brief/ccp-v-harris-reply-brief/
Title 26 U.S.C. § 6104(c)1 regulates the disclosure of charitable organizations’ tax returns to state officers. Section 6104(c)(3) governs the release of the Schedule B information of § 501(c) organizations, which is only permitted “for the purpose of, and only to the extent necessary in, the administration of State laws regulating the solicitation or administration of the charitable funds or charitable assets of such organization.” (emphasis supplied). The same provision also bars the
Secretary of the Treasury from releasing Schedule B information to state officials—even for the narrow purpose authorized by Congress—if that form belongs to a § 501(c)(3) organization. These provisions are not ambiguous.
In response to CCP’s arguments that § 6104(c)(3) conclusively preempts the Attorney
General from compelling the release of CCP’s Schedule B, Defendant nowhere grapples with, or even references, the language of the statute. Rather, she contends that the applicable portions of federal law merely “set[] forth the procedure by which the Attorney General could obtain tax information about an exempt organization from the IRS.” Def. Br. at 8. (citing I.R.C. §§ 6104(c);
(d)). In Defendant’s view, the extensive, specific procedure outlined in § 6104(c)(3) does not limit her ability to obtain that same confidential information from Plaintiff by means of an “order ha[ving] the same force as a subpoena.” Def. Br. at 4 (citing Cal. Gov’t Code § 12589).
