Friday, June 03, 2016

Update on the private museums question (UPDATED)

The Art Newspaper's Julia Halperin got her hands on a summary of the report the Senate Finance Committee recently submitted to the IRS on the issue of so-called private museums.

"Raises questions."  "Merits further scrutiny."  "Helpful shot across the bow."  There, you're all caught up.

As I've said before, my view is that, while some of these may not look so great right in this moment, if you take a longer term view, the benefits outweigh the costs.

UPDATE:  The Nonprofit Law Prof Blog:  "Inquiries of this type bother me somewhat.  It seems to me that current law regarding private benefit is probably sufficient to handle many of the perceived abuses ....  The drumbeat of the articles and the Senate inquiry may lead to additional regulation - and I suspect they will use a mallet rather than a surgical instrument to deal with the issue, if history is any guide."