New Tax Return Shows Karl Rove’s Group Spent Even More On Politics Than It Said
http://www.propublica.org/article/new-tax-return-shows-karl-roves-group-spent-more-on-politics-than-it-said
On its 2012 tax return, GOP strategist Karl Roves dark money behemoth Crossroads GPS justified its status as a tax-exempt social welfare group in part by citing its grants of $35 million to other similarly aligned nonprofits. (Heres the tax return itself, which we detailed last week.)
The return, signed under penalty of perjury, specified that the grants would be used for social welfare purposes, and not for political expenditures, consistent with the organizations tax-exempt mission.
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New tax documents, made public last Tuesday, indicate that at least $11.2 million of the grant money given to the group Americans for Tax Reform was spent on political activities expressly advocating for or against candidates. This means Crossroads spent at least $85.7 million on political activities in 2012, not the $74.5 million reported to the Internal Revenue Service. Thats about 45 percent of its total expenditures.
The transaction also provides a window into one way social welfare nonprofits work around the tax codes dictate that their primary purpose cannot be influencing elections. Grants sent from one nonprofit to another may be earmarked for social welfare purposes, but sometimes end up being used to slam or praise candidates running for office.
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