“Tea party groups see win in end-of-year omnibus bill”

CPI:

Two-and-a-half years after the Internal Revenue Service apologized for using “inappropriate criteria” to scrutinize tea party-aligned nonprofits applying for tax-exempt status, President Barack Obama has signed into law a new measure that makes it easier for nonprofit groups to receive a tax break — or sue the agency to avoid legal limbo.

Such groups have proliferated in recent years and become increasingly active in elections in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

These nonprofits, many of which are organized under section 501(c)(4) of the tax code, need not publicly disclose their donors. And their primary purpose must be the “promotion of social welfare,” not electoral politics.

More than 100 groups seeking tax-exempt recognition that were deemed to be potentially political by the IRS waited more than a year for answers from the agency, according to a May 2013 report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

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