Sen. Tom Cotton Demands IRS Investigation into SPLC's Tax-Exempt Status
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
On Tuesday, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) sent a letter to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) demanding an investigation into whether or not the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) should lose its tax-exempt status. His letter comes after weeks of turmoil with the SPLC struggling with scandals of alleged racism and sexism. The organization fired its co-founder , saw its president and other leaders resign, and lost a prominent member of its board .
"I am writing to urge you to investigate whether the Southern Poverty Law Center should retain its classification as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization," Cotton begins his letter. "Recent news reports have confirmed the long-established fact that the SPLC regularly engages in defamation of its political opponents. In fact, the SPLC's defining characteristic is to fundraise off of defamation."
Cotton notes that "the SPLC has accrued more than $500 million in assets. According to the group's most recent financial statement, it holds $121 million offshore in non-U.S. equity funds. The SPLC uses these assets to pay its executives lavish salaries far higher than the comparable household average."
The senator noted the racism scandal , which I discussed on Tucker Carlson Tonight last month.
"Based on these reports, and in the interest of protecting taxpayer dollars from a racist and sexist slush fund devoted to defamation, I believe that the SPLC's conduct warrants a serious and thorough investigation," Cotton writes.
"Engaging in systematic defamation is not a tax-exempt purpose," the senator declared. "While IRS guidance lists several examples of tax-exempt purposes, engaging in defamation as a business model is of course not one of them."
Cotton alleged that the far-left smear factory engages in defamation through its "hate map," which "ostensibly identifies hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and the Nation of Islam. But under the guise of its 'hate map,' the SPLC also lists its mainstream political opponents and faith-based groups, including reputable organizations such as the Family Research Council, the Alliance Defending Freedom, and the Center for Immigration Studies."
Indeed, the hate map vastly overstates the number of "hate groups," both by smearing mainstream organizations like FRC, ADF, and CIS, and by counting every single chapter of an organization as a separate "hate group." A PJ Media analysis found that there are at most 335 true "hate groups," despite the SPLC's claim that there are 1,020.
Cotton's letter also rightly cites the case of Muslim reformer Maajid Nawaz, whom the SPLC labeled an "anti-Muslim extremist." Nawaz sued , and the smear factory apologized, paying his nonprofit Quilliam Foundation $3.375 million in a settlement . About 60 organizations started considering lawsuits of their own after this settlement.
Cotton's letter also rightly noted the 2012 terrorist attack inspired by the "hate map." In 2012, Floyd Lee Corkins II attempted to murder everyone at FRC, and he was only stopped by a brave security guard.
"Perhaps the SPLC was founded for noble purposes and decades ago performed some good work, but what is left of the SPLC is no longer operating in a manner consistent with IRS guidelines and applicable law," Cotton declares. "Based on this concerning information and the flood of recent reports, I encourage you to take immediate action."
Cotton's letter is not the first attack on the SPLC's tax-exempt status. Last December, Baltimore lawyer Glen Keith Allen filed a mammoth lawsuit against the far-left smear factory. Among other things, he alleged that the SPLC's penchant for attacking "far-right groups" and primarily Republicans constituted a violation of the rules for 501(c)(3) status. Tax-exempt groups under this status cannot engage in political campaigning.
"The SPLC’s 501c3 status rests on its claim to be pursuing an educational mission, but for decades it has wandered far from that mission into highly partisan, hypocritical, and in some cases fraudulent activities," Allen told PJ Media on Tuesday. "Its exploitation of its 501c3 status brings discredit to the entire nonprofit sector. It is no more a 501c3 than is a supermarket tabloid."
"I also believe the IRS should investigate whether the SPLC has complied with rules of professional ethics, which it is required to do as a purported 501c3 public interest law firm," Allen added, noting another claim in his lawsuit, that the SPLC abetted theft in it attacks against him.
Last month, the SPLC hired a high-powered lawyer to defend itself from Allen's suit, suggesting it takes this attack very seriously. The smear group has filed a motion to dismiss, but Allen has filed motions against it.
The far-left smear group faces many other lawsuits as well.
In 2017, the charity navigation website GuideStar marked each organization on the SPLC list as a "hate group" on its website. Liberty Counsel filed a lawsuit. Shortly thereafter, the Christian nonprofit D. James Kennedy Ministries filed a lawsuit against Amazon and the SPLC, after realizing that it was excluded from Amazon Smile over the SPLC list.
CIS is suing for wire fraud under RICO . Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes is also suing for defamation.
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I think that's a very good reason to confirm in order to deny the tax-exempt status. Using taxpayer money to pay off lawsuits when they overstep should be another reason.
How so, counselor? They are not using taxpayer money if they are tax exempt and raise $$ through donations, are they?
That being said, I would not mind seeing the end of almost alll tax exemptions, starting with the real estate rich Catholic Church.
Oh, you're right. It is the money that is donated to them by people who think it will be used beneficially that they are throwing away. That itself should be a signal to anyone who wants to donate to them that their money will be wasted.
However, I'm not entirely wrong, it is taxpayers who are donating the money, since what they donate is a deductible amount from being taxed and they probably would not make charitable donations if it were not.
Not under the new improved tax law of 2017, thank you, but I will keep it in mind the next time someone in the family pressures me for a charitable donation to the JDL, in fact most of my donations will be much much more vigorously scrutinized now that they don't affect my taxes.........
but you still might be partially correct about corporate donations, I don't know.
I would not support the JDL either. Notwithstanding its stated good intentions of fighting antisemitism it went overboard, accused of terrorist activities. Just as I would not support SPLC that notwithstanding its stated good intentions of fighting extremism (provided it is right wing extremism) it goes overboard and is capable of destroying peoples lives (example - Nawaz).
Senator Cotton would serve us all well to go back to sleep or concentrate on matters of importance, whichever comes first.
taking down every progressive stronghold is of much importance.
Did you hear that the fraudulent auxiliary of the conservative right wing, WorldNutDaily, is about to shut down? The charlatan owner has been exposed for stealing from his devoted conspiracy theorists and fake news addicts, and the business is probably on its last legs. Unfortunately, it's probably too late to fix the people who fell for their BS articles.
First they will come for the SPLC, ACLU, ADL, NAACP, GLAD, CAIR and the HRC and then eventually inevitably the freedom haters will come for you...
I don't know. It's listed as being a Satire/Fake news site owned by 2 Canadians who rely on advertising income to keep the site going.
No mention of it's Canadian tax status.
That's WorldNewsDaily - the conspiracy fake news site is WorldNetDaily.
Neither you nor Magic 8 Ball had "tax exempt non profit" as a qualifier for progressive strongholds that should be taken down, so why would I?
Initially it was, but Farah saw multiple opportunities to make money and spun it off as a 'for profit' corporation in 1999.
Thanks, hard to tell all of the acronyms apart, lol
That is one of the greatest values of this country and the doctrine of separation of church and state.
Every single citizen gets to decide on which values they want regardless of the thousands of messages.
Not me or you or anyone else........
Oh Gee, and here i wrongly thought it was the Whirled Nut Daily /S...
World net daily has turned into a colossal failure...
You support and exalt fundamentalist Christian groups that do the exact same thing. Why are you against those who furnish opposing FACTS?
It's been fun watching the SPLC get exposed as one of the more successful scams of the last 100 years.
The MSM is finally catching on to what local media in Montgomery and actual investigative reporters have been reporting for decades. The SPLC is a racist organization that exploits gullible liberal donors through crude fear mongering to generate millions for it's founder.
Ask the KKK if they're a scam?
I didn't know that the KKK got tax exempt status, ignoring the problems with the SPLC is whistling walking by the graveyard IMO.
READ MORE CAREFULLY.
This is a fairly accurate description of Mr. Limbaugh, kind of ironic as he seems to have defined himself.
I think they should investigate the fundie christian churches.
Thank God for the SPLC! The U.S. needs organizations that shine a bright light on hate filled fascist groups.
I wonder how many SPLC designated hate groups Cotton belongs to?
The funny thing is the cult leader/founder did work for the KKK prior to realizing the millions to be made exploiting gullible liberals by scaring them.
Can't seem to find any reference to that. Maybe you could provide a link.
This WASP is plenty scared of the 1,000+ hate groups in this country.
his WASP is plenty scared of the 1,000+ hate groups in this country.
What can I say, some people are afraid of leprechauns, or fluoride or vaccines.
As the left wing journalist Nathan J. Robinson just wrote in Current Affairs:
The biggest problem with the hate map, though, is that it’s an outright fraud. I don’t use that term casually. I mean, the whole thing is a willful deception designed to scare older liberals into writing checks to the SPLC. .... This whole SPLC set-up strikes me as fraudulent in the extreme. I don’t know how else to describe it. They have a team of people investigating these groups. They have to know that they’re inflating the danger. They know that when they report “over 1,000” hate groups in America, they’ve deliberately excluded membership numbers in order to sound as scary as possible. They’re perpetrating a deception, because they don’t want you to know that groups like the “ Asatru Folk Assembly ” are no political threat. The SPLC has continuously sent out terrifying lies to make old people part with their money. They’ve become fantastically wealthy from telling people that individual kooks in Kennesaw are “hate groups” on the march.
Read the whole article.
Cotton is a christian taliban. Judicial Watch is a scam ran by the Mercers and should be...…………...safely sequestered in a gulag.
If crackpot bigoted right wing televangelist organizations like Pat Robertson and his Christian Broadcasting Network are tax exempt, SPLC should be with no questions asked. The premise of this seed is thus moronic.
Pat Robertson Begs God To Take Out President Obama ...
Pat Robertson today asked God to "deliver" the US from President Obama before it's too late. After implying that Obama is a Muslim , Robertson told 700 Club viewers: "We need to do something to pray to be delivered from this president. He is a disaster, an absolute disaster.