It is an abuse-of-power dance nobody wants to get asked to. But in 2009 the Internal Revenue Service held out a bamboo pole and forced the Albuquerque Tea Party to limbo. Over the next six years that pole has continued dropping, forcing the group to limbo lower now as it continues to do without the tax-free money 501(c)(4) status conveys.
Meanwhile, when the supposedly nonpartisan IRS operates as it should, an application for tax-exempt status usually takes three to six months.
Sure, there are questions about the tea party’s qualifications as a “social welfare” organization that by law is required to spend less than half its time and money on political activity. Those same questions should be applied to its counterparts on the left that couch electioneering as “education” – yet they have not. The IRS has admitted it did not give the same scrutiny to groups with a liberal or progressive bent that it has given to groups with “tea party” or similar terms in their applications.
Tell Congress: Pass the Fair Tax Act of 2015! Sign the petition.
Meanwhile, when the supposedly nonpartisan IRS operates as it should, an application for tax-exempt status usually takes three to six months.
Sure, there are questions about the tea party’s qualifications as a “social welfare” organization that by law is required to spend less than half its time and money on political activity. Those same questions should be applied to its counterparts on the left that couch electioneering as “education” – yet they have not. The IRS has admitted it did not give the same scrutiny to groups with a liberal or progressive bent that it has given to groups with “tea party” or similar terms in their applications.
Tell Congress: Pass the Fair Tax Act of 2015! Sign the petition.