Theft at the Public Till
cards, they can call a toll-free number seven days a week from 8 A.M. to mid night. Or they can visit one of the retailer’s outlets. What makes this retailer different from other trendy merchandisers? 1, is a nonprofit, tax-exempt museum And it gets a break of up to $1 million a year on postage for its catalogs-subsidized by the United States government and, ultimately, the taxpayers. Museums and other cultural institutions increasingly have gone com- mercial over the last decade as they try to raise money for their programs. The giant Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York now has a chain of thir- teen retail outlets from California to Connecticut, many in malls. The mu- seum also mails out millions of catalogs each year. In 1991, the Metropolitan Museum reported $45.5 million in gross profits on $87 million in mer- chandise and food sales. Those sales were nearly ten times what it collected in admissions. Out of all its revenues-$183 million-the museum declared $296,191 as “unrelated business income” and subject to federal income tax and paid $61,810 in tax. When a museum opens a store outside the museum, for-profit competitors cry foul. When the museum opens a store in a mail, why shouldn’t they should be treated by the law like any private retailers that choose to open a store 1,000 miles from home? Museum or merchandiser? At times, it’s tough to tell. When it comes to special-interest politics, nonprofit groups play the game as well as anyone. And they do it the old-fashioned way: with money, especially PAC money. Take the National Cattlemen’s Association, a tax-exempt trade group for ranchers, based in Englewood, Colorado. It is one of hundreds of nonprofit groups that lobby Congress every year. You thought nonprofit organizations weren’t allowed to politick? Wrong. Under the tax code and election laws, only charities-not other nonprofits-are pro- hibited from participating in political activities. But even charities can set up separate nonprofit organizations under a different section of the tax code to lobby Congress and form political action committees. The cattlemen figured out years ago how to play the game. Their non- profit association divides its efforts among lobbying, promotion, and pro- fessional activities. Like other trade groups, it spends heavily to gain access
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