It looks like these authoritarian leftists are getting quite desperate. Only a month after the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) falsely labeled Moms for Liberty as a hate group, folks on the hard left are now trying to weaponize the IRS against the parental rights advocacy group.
This is the latest in the ongoing conflict between right and left over the school system. The attorney filing the complaint is hoping to have Moms for Liberty stripped of its 501(c)4 non-profit status, which would make it harder for the organization to raise funds.
A Michigan attorney has confirmed she filed an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) complaint against Moms for Liberty, the parental rights group with positions against racially inclusive and LGBTQ+ education in schools. The complaint, which is private but was obtained by the Guardian, alleges that the rightwing organization is in violation of its 501(c)4 non-profit status.
Experts in tax law say an IRS investigation into the Moms for Liberty, named an extremist group by Southern Poverty Law Center, would take at least two years. If their non-profit status is revoked, it would most likely cause the group to re-characterize as a private organization, further decreasing transparency about how money is flowing into it.
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The eight-page complaint questions whether Moms for Liberty is a political educational organization and notes public posts endorsing Republican candidates, the group’s campaigning for Republican candidates, and links to partisan training materials.
In the complaint, the attorney takes issue with the organization’s lack of “balance” in its activism against the effort to impart progressive gender ideology to children through the education system.
“It would be a permissible educational purpose if there were advocating to remove gender discussions from classrooms and schools if there was a balanced presentation of benefits and drawbacks of using a person’s preferred pronouns, supporting LGBTQ youth, impacts on children of being ‘exposed’ to LGBTQ supportive environments,” the document argues. “There is not.”
In the complaint, the attorney cited American Campaign Academy v. Commissioner, a case involving a school for Republican candidates. The institution had its non-profit status stripped because it was giving education only from one political perspective.
The attorney is also challenging Moms for Liberty’s status as a “social welfare organization,” which is why it has the 501(c)4 tax designation. These groups are typically created to promote social welfare causes and work toward the common good. Unlike 501(c)3 organizations, they are not prohibited from engaging in all political activities. However, their primary purposes cannot be political:
The IRS complaint also examines if Moms for Liberty is an action organization, raising questions about its participation in political campaigns and active recruitment of school board candidates.
“The promotion of social welfare does not include direct or indirect participation or intervention in political campaigns on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office,” the complaint reads. “However, a section 501(c)(4) social welfare organization may engage in some political activities, so long as that is not its primary activity.”
One does not have to be a genius to figure out what is going on here, does one?
Having the SPLC put Moms for Liberty on its ridiculous hate list didn’t work. Smearing the group through the elite media hasn’t worked. Mindlessly calling them racist transphobes was about as effective as rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Trying to leverage the IRS against the organization is obviously the latest gambit for authoritarians on the left who have become nauseous at the idea of using persuasion and debate to win people over. After all, if there is an organization advocating for causes you don’t like, it’s much easier to just leverage a federal agency against them, right?
It seems unlikely that this tactic will succeed, given that it won’t be easy to prove that the organization’s primary activities are purely political. Nevertheless, the fact that folks on the left are resorting to such measures shows that they don’t quite have an answer for a group like Moms for Liberty. Still, this desperate attempt to use the IRS as a cudgel against the organization shows just how authoritarian these people are. The bottom line is that they want to influence your children, and they will use whatever means necessary to do so.