IRS won't require NRA, other groups to disclose donors to tax officials
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration will no longer force some tax-exempt organizations, including politically active groups such as the National Rifle Association, to identify their contributors to federal tax officials.
The new policy, announced this week by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, achieves a longstanding goal of some conservative groups who say donor disclosure, even to the IRS, could subject their contributors to government intimidation and harassment.
But the change drew protests Tuesday from campaign finance watchdogs, who say it strips the government of its ability to scrutinize those donations and could lead to foreign interests illegally infiltrating U.S. elections through advocacy groups — as the country grapples with Russian interference in the 2016 presidential contest.
"This is the theater of the absurd," said Fred Wertheimer of the watchdog group Democracy 21. "By limiting donor disclosure to the IRS, they have limited any ability to prevent Russia and Russian oligarchs to launder unlimited, undisclosed and illegal contributions through advocacy groups into federal elections."
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/792094002
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