Sen. J.D. Vance sent a letter Thursday to the commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, demanding the IRS halts its “harassment” of conservative organizations and “weaponization” of federal government agencies.”
Vance, R-Ohio, referenced the IRS decision to audit the American Accountability Foundation on Sept. 14. The IRS threatened “to revoke AAF’s tax exempt status if the investigation yields sufficient legal grounds,” but Vance said the IRS hasn’t presented any evidence suggesting the investigation is necessary.
Head of the IRS, Charles Rettig, said about compliance and investigations, even among “high-risk cases,” staff “must make difficult decisions based on resources, return on investment, coverage of all types of taxpayers, and other priority work,” because of “resource and funding restraints,” per his report to the Senate Finance Committee last year.
Sen. Vance’s letter claims the audit is “motivated by politics.”
The IRS requested documents falling under 12 categories, including meeting minutes from Dec. 23 2020, to present, emails and information related to current public elected officials and a variety of tax forms.
Foundation President Tom Jones called the IRS audit “a deliberate attempt to punish and suppress” the organization. “This sudden request by the IRS is not random,” he said. “The IRS is demanding ‘(c)orrespondence files, emails and information posted on a website that relates to current public elected officials’ — clearly a sign that they are targeting our research and education activities,” per AAF.
Several Biden nominees for senior positions have been investigated by the foundation and some subsequently withdrew their candidacies, Fox News reported. Specifically, the foundation published emails Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., sent the IRS asking them to investigate conservative nonprofits.
Sen. Whitehouse asked IRS to investigate several Right-wing orgs
An AAF press release said the Rhode Island senator, “called for revoking a tax exemption for a conservative group (Turning Point USA) for not masking up and socially distancing during the pandemic, insisted on a slew of investigations of other conservative groups, and pressed for the Internal Revenue Service to expand its reach.”
On Wednesday, Whitehouse stirred angry reactions after captioning an X post, “Someone seems nervous.”
Editor in chief of The Federalist, Mollie Ziegler Hemingway, replied in her own X post, “Democrat Senator gloating over the weaponization of the IRS against conservative political activity. Very anti-American.”
Vance closed his letter by requesting answers to the following questions by Dec. 6:
- Have any IRS employees discussed AAF’s political orientation in connection with this enforcement action? If so, please transcribe their statements.
- Why did the agency choose AAF from among thousands of nonprofits to receive an audit of its compliance with section 501(c)(3)? Has the IRS considered, but declined to pursue, audits of non-profits with progressive or left-wing views in the last six months? If so, why did the agency decline to pursue enforcement?