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Advocacy Blog
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Public Citizen Asks IRS to Investigate U.S. Chamber of Commerce
The New York Times reports that Public Citizen filed a complaint with the IRS based on the assertion that the United States Chamber of Commerce and its affiliate, the Institute for Legal Reform, violated tax laws by failing to report tens of millions of dollars used to influence state and federal elections from 2000 through 2004. Public Citizen sent a letter to the IRS asking for a formal review of the two organizations by the criminal division. The Chamber of Commerce dismissed the claims as politically motivated.
The chamber’s political spending that year [2004] included $1 million intended to derail the re-election bid of Senator Tom Daschle, a Democrat from South Dakota, and $3 million to a nonprofit group called the November Fund, which opposed the former Democratic vice presidential nominee, John Edwards. Public Citizen also asserts that the chamber and its affiliate did not report $3.6 million in grants and allocations to various outside political groups, as required by I.R.S. regulations.
Posted by Amanda Adams
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