Commercialism in Tax-Favored Institutions

Examples of commercialism by tax-exempt institutions are given. For exemption from taxation, scientific organizations must be making studies for: (1) a government agency; (2) education of college or university students; (3) obtaining scientific information for the interested public; (4) discovering a cure for a disease; or (5) aiding a community or geographical area by attracting new industry. IRS interprets scientific loosely and many consulting engineers could be considered to be doing scientific work. Suggestions are given for individual ASCE members who can: (1) refer inequitable examples of commercialism to the Consulting Engineers Council which has developed a concerted effort on this problem; (2) make sure that in choosing consulting services, all organizations considered are either tax-paying or tax-exempt; (3) work toward further clarification of the IRS code on tax-exempt status.