At Fidelity, they'd just check that the money is going to a tax-exempt group.

Such requests by tax-exempt groups dropped to 265 last fiscal year from 625 in 1997.

The tax-exempt nonprofit group also facilitates preservation activities of government entities.

Tax laws bar churches and other tax-exempt charitable groups from partisan politics.

Under current law, however, tax-exempt groups are absolutely prohibited from participating in election campaigns.

Perhaps we should do away with some of these restrictions and allow tax-exempt groups to participate more freely in political contests.

Candidates and political groups could use the decision to set up tax-exempt groups to test how much, or whether, the restrictions have really changed.

Almost half the tax-exempt groups under examination are churches.

The law governing these tax-exempt groups is "pretty restrictive," she said.

They complain that small businesses are at a competitive disadvantage in competing with tax-exempt groups.