WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) this week joined Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senator Mike Braun (R-Ind.) in introducing legislation to prevent the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from being used as a political weapon against American citizens.

“Government targeting individuals for their political beliefs is about as un-American as you can get, yet that’s exactly what the IRS did during the Obama-Biden administration,” Senator Capito said. “Now, Democrats are attempting to repeal the First Amendment protections President’s Trump put into place through their egregious elections power grab. I’m proud to join Leader McConnell, Senator Braun, and my Republican colleagues to ensure Americans’ privacy and liberty won’t be jeopardized in this way again.”

“The American people remember all too well what can happen when the IRS is allowed to subject individuals to unequal scrutiny, depending on their political beliefs. The prior administration was right to intervene and put hard limits on the sort of personal information unelected bureaucrats could demand from nonprofit organizations and their donors. In the face of left-wing plans to tear down these commonsense protections, our bill would codify them permanently. I’m proud to stand with Senator Braun, the overwhelming majority of our Republican colleagues, and with citizens across America in defense of the First Amendment,” Senator McConnell, Senate Republican Leader, said.

BACKGROUND:

From 2010 to 2012, the Obama IRS spent over two years systematically targeting conservative tax-exempt groups. The Trump administration released a final rule in May 2020 that prevented the IRS from targeting certain tax-exempt groups based on their political beliefs.

House Democrats’ H.R. 1 – the “For the People Act” – and Senate companion legislation S. 1 seek to repeal and undermine the Trump rule to weaponize the IRS to target nonprofit organizations based on the applicants’ political and policy positions.

The Don’t Weaponize the IRS Act codifies the Trump rule that protects groups regardless of their political ideology or beliefs and prevents the IRS from doxing donors to these groups.

Removing the requirement to report the names and addresses of donors helps protect taxpayers’ First Amendment rights: such information is not needed for tax administration purposes.

The text of the Don’t Weaponize the IRS Act can be accessed here.

 

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