First on FOX: Top House tax lawmakers are urging the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to revoke the tax-free status of a nonprofit related to former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.
The New Georgia Project, a group designed by Abrams, was recently fined $300,000 for violating state election laws in a Georgia Ethics Commission's ruling.
Jason Smith, R-Mo, chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee. was called “the biggest penalty in the history of the Ethics Committee and perhaps the largest ethical fine ever issued in the United States.”
The committee unanimously accused the new Georgia state project of failing to disclose more than $4 million in campaign contributions and more than $3 million in spending.
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Stacey Abrams, a former Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Georgia, will speak at an election night rally in Atlanta on Tuesday, November 8th, 2022. (Dustin Chambers/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“As you know, under section 501(c)(3), organizations are strictly prohibited from participating or intervening in political campaigns on or against potential civil servants,” writes Smith.
“The IRS may revoke the organization's tax-exempt status or assess excise tax for certain types of violations if the organization determines it is non-integrated because it relates to political campaign interventions.”
Abrams established the new Georgia Project in 2013, boosting voter registration efforts in Peach State. However, since she has not been involved in the group since 2017, Smith noted that groups registered as 501(c)(3) are prohibited from participating or advocating for certain political candidates.
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House Ways & Means Speaker Jason Smith will step down from the House Republican Congress meeting at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, February 14th, 2024. (Tom Williams)
The New Georgia Project Action Fund, an affiliated group of the New Georgia Project, can support candidates, but donations are not tax-free.
“The new Georgia Project's intervention into the 2018 election cycle supporting Stacey Abrams and other candidates' campaigns is a clear violation of tax-free status,” Smith wrote.
“The GSEC findings show that the new Georgia project is participating in activities and events other than the organization's tax-free purpose, and should be reclassified as an “action organization.” ”
Smith acknowledged that such nonprofits are “allowed to engage in certain nonpartisan voter education activities that do not constitute banned political campaign activities, including public forums and voter education guides,” but argued that “it is clear that the New Georgia Project has crossed the boundaries of activities banned by intervening several other candidates in the 2018 election cycle.
“I use your authority to make this referral a priority and require that the IRS make it swiftly move to look into and revoke the tax-free status of the new Georgia Project,” he wrote.
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Fox News Digital reached out to the New Georgia Project and the IRS for comment, but did not respond to the reporting time.
The Aria Branch of the New Georgia Project's Attorneys NBC News At the time of the Commission's ruling, “I am constantly disappointed that the federal court's decision on Georgia's transparency and the constitutionality of the Campaign Finance Act has been completely overturned for procedural reasons, but I am keen to accept this outcome and change the page for activities that took place more than five years ago.”
