Columbus, Ohio - The Ohio Liberty Council welcomed the letter sent yesterday, March 1, 2012, by the House Ways and Means Committee Oversight Chairman Charles Boustany (R-LA) requesting that the IRS give a complete response to a previous request for general information on the tax-exempt sector, IRS audits and compliance activities related to tax-exempt organizations. The letter also requests additional information following reports that the IRS was questioning certain tax-exempt applicants, including grassroots political entities such as local TEA Party groups, about their operations and donors. For the past six weeks, hundreds of TEA Party groups and other conservative non-profit organizations across the country have suddenly received letters from the IRS demanding information about their members, donors, speakers at their events, affiliation with elected officials, and other highly confidential information.
Ohio Liberty Council President Tom Zawistowski said, “Those of us in the liberty movement who have been fighting against the politically motivated efforts of the IRS to intimidate and stop the activity of TEA Party groups around the nation, are glad to see someone giving the IRS a list of questions to answer about their actions and activites. We thank Chairman Boustany for beginning the process of finding out who is behind this attack on our First Amendment Rights to Political Free Speech and Freedom of Assembly. We hope in his next request to the IRS he will demand that the IRS show proof that they have asked the same questions of union and other liberal groups that are also 501(c)4 tax-exempt organizations.”
The Ohio Liberty Council is a council of leaders whose purpose is to unite conservative grassroots organizations for greater effectiveness in the state and nation, and to provide resources for member organizations to strengthen their groups. The OLC currently has over 75 liberty-minded groups across Ohio who are members of its coalition.
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