Republicans Mark Oct. 7 With Calls For IRS To Revoke Tax-Exempt Status Of Terrorist-Linked Groups

WASHINGTON—Republicans are urging the IRS to prioritize revoking the tax-exempt status of eight organizations with alleged “links to designated foreign terrorist groups,” and others “linked to violence and unrest” across the nation.

The letter, from Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and IRS CEO Frank Bisignano, comes on the second anniversary of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

“From the international funding sources and activities of tax-exempt entities in the U.S., and the role of certain organizations in fostering antisemitism on college campuses, the Committee has remained steadfast in ensuring that all tax-exempt organizations are abiding by their exempt status,” the letter reads.

Smith referred some of the groups named in Tuesday’s letter to the IRS for revocation during the 118^th Congress. In his letter, the chairman noted that shortly after the committee sent revocation letters, the Treasury Department designated Samidoun as a terrorist organization “that serves as an international fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a Foreign Terrorist Organization.”

However, Smith said that due to recent “political violence and the continued concerning actions by the previously referred organizations with ties to official foreign terrorist organizations,” he said it is important that the IRS takes action.

“These organizations have failed to operate for their tax exempt purpose. Tax-exempt status is a privilege, not a right, and in exchange, organizations must operate for stated exempt purposes,” Smith said.

Smith notes that the Americans for Justice in Palestine Educational Foundation, American Muslims for Palestine, and Islamic Relief USA, are “suspected of having terrorist ties to groups like Hamas,” and claims they use ties to “actively support and funnel resources in support of terrorism.”

The letter names the following organizations: Americans for Justice in Palestine Educational Foundation, American Muslims for Palestine, Islamic Relief USA, Alliance for Global Justice, WESPAC Foundation, Tides Foundation, Peoples Media Project (The Palestine Chronicle), and The People’s Forum.

It includes other groups: Alliance for Global Justice, WESPAC Foundation, and the Tides Foundation, which they say “disrupt college campuses, incite violence and intimidation, and illegal riot across the United States.”

Students for Justice in Palestine and Samidoun were cited as one of the notable projects, according to the letter.

Late last month, President Donald Trump issued a National Security Presidential Memorandum directing the IRS to make sure no tax-exempt entities are “directly or indirectly financing political violence or domestic terrorism.”

The letter applauded the move and said Committee Republicans are “glad that the Trump Administration is taking the threat of tax-exempt entities with ties to political violence and terrorism seriously.”

Smith encouraged the IRS to prioritize examinations and vowed to continue their oversight work on tax-exempt organizations.