Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and the IRS could revoke the tax-free status of left-wing nonprofits such as George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, three sources familiar with the matter have told The Post.
It is part of a Trump-backed crackdown on “bogus” charities, and Treasury officials are drawing up a sweeping audit of outfits deemed to be using and abusing Uncle Sam’s tax code, the three people briefed on the Treasury Department’s internal policy deliberations said.
Bessent’s inner circle is drafting a blueprint that could ultimately strip non-compliant organizations of their 501(c)(3) status, according to two of the people familiar with the plans. The reviews could result in massive back payments and civil penalties, the same sources said.
The initiative leans in part on a 2025 executive order signed by President Donald Trump targeting nonprofits operating with a “substantial illegal purpose,” paving the way for the IRS to issue fines or even strip the tax-exempt status of charities allegedly tied to political violence, protests or radical ideologies.
Officials have also scrutinized a number of anti-corporate and labor-aligned advocacy groups that could end up on the blacklist, including the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, the anti-Amazon Athena Coalition, left-leaning watchdog MediaJustice, and the Strategic Organizing Center alongside its parent union, the SEIU, according to the three insiders briefed on the matter.
One of the sources warned that Treasury Department officials were “like a dog with a bone” and reckoned that many of the groups and their donors could be “on borrowed time.”
“There’s a lot of internal pressure to get it done, but some people are still moving too slowly at the IRS,” the source said. “That is expected to change very soon.”
The aggressive crackdown is already facing fierce legal blowback. Left-leaning legal powerhouse Protect Democracy sued Treasury and the IRS earlier this year, accusing the administration of illegally weaponizing the tax code against its political opponents --->READ MORE HERE
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| REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo |
Left or right, taxpayers shouldn’t have to subsidize political activism they oppose, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is drafting plans to ensure they don’t by revoking tax exemptions from bogus political “charities.”
As The Post’s James Franey reports, Bessent and the IRS are taking a hard look at the conduct of up to a dozen or so high-profile lefty nonprofits — including George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Council on American-Islamic Relations — with an eye toward possibly revoking their tax-exempt status.
That could mean a $165 million windfall in new tax payments from these groups — and, more important, end taxpayer subsidies for dubious or even rancid political activism.
“The woke left wants to ‘tax the rich,’ but these same lefty groups will do anything they can to avoid paying their own taxes, including breaking the law,” snarked one source familiar with Treasury’s plans. “It’s hypocrisy at its finest.”
To qualify for a 501(c)(3) tax exemption, nonprofits typically must operate “exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, testing for public safety, literary, or educational purposes”; they’re expressly prohibited from excessive lobbying or promoting “propaganda,” legislation or political candidates’ campaigns.
Treasury is reportedly looking to treat nonprofits that are political activists in disguise as businesses or political machines for tax purposes, as per the law.
That’s appropriate. Open Society, after all, famously uses its billions to fund groups that back far-left causes — including criminal-justice reforms, climate change, legal privileges for illegal immigrants, DEI and more.
Why shouldn’t it have to pay its “fair share,” rather than force other Americans — most of whom object to much of its agenda — to pick up the tab? --->READ MORE HERE
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