Crossroads GPS Application to IRS Bears No Resemblance to Shadow Party Committee that Spent $70 Million Anonymously on Ads

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The Campaign Legal Center today joined Democracy 21 citing new evidence in urging the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to deny Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS tax-exempt status as a section 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. The letter points to the recent public dissemination by the news organization ProPublica of Crossroads GPS’s application to the IRS seeking privileged 501(c)(4) tax exempt status as a “social welfare” organization able to keep its donors secret. The application describes an organization bearing little resemblance to the Crossroads GPS whose recent Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings revealed $70 million in independent expenditures and electioneering communications to elect Republican candidates or defeat Democratic candidates for federal office in the 2012 elections.

“The application filed with the IRS by Crossroads GPS is laughable in the face of the growing body of evidence against the pretense that Crossroads GPS is a ‘social welfare’ organization,” said J. Gerald Hebert, Legal Center Executive Director. “The IRS has now allowed this charade to go on for two election cycles at great harm to our democracy and it is long past time when the agency should step up and enforce the law. The tax code is being abused to allow the very rich to spend tens of millions of dollars anonymously in an attempt to buy election results, and by extension to purchase still more influence in Washington. The inaction of the agency will only encourage more widespread abuse of the system in future election cycles so it is important that it act quickly and decisively after its long delay.”

To read the full letter sent today to the IRS, click here.