Congressman concerned about groups' political activity
In a statement delivered last week on the U.S. House floor, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said the IRS is conducting examinations of 70 501(c)(4) organizations, though the agency has not revoked tax-exempt status of any (c)4s in the past six months.
Some of the examinations are to determine if the organization's primary purpose is political. Levin, chairman of the House Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations for the Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, blasted the IRS for allowing ( c)4s to “exploit” the tax code and spend millions on political campaign activity, according to media reports. Levin took issue with the IRS response to organizations he said are “misusing our tax code for political gain.”
According to ASAE's Inroads, 501(c)(4) groups are not banned from political activities as long as it’s not their primary purpose. Political activity by (c)(4) organizations has fallen under congressional and public scrutiny because these groups have spent millions of dollars on campaign activities in the two-plus years since the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling.
