Trump's IRS Pick Targeted Animal Rights Group

Donald Trump’s pick to head the Internal Revenue Service pressed the agency to investigate and consider stripping the country’s leading animal welfare group of its tax status after it supported an initiative to protect dogs, according to documents reviewed by The Lever.

If former Missouri Republican Rep.

Billy Long is confirmed to run the Internal Revenue Services (IRS), he would be in a position to strip — and effectively shut down — the tax status of such nonprofit groups whose missions he disagrees with. And Long could have new powers to do so if Congress enacts a pending House-passed bill to grant the Trump administration new powers to rescind the tax status of groups it deems “terrorist supporting organizations.”

In 2011, Long signed a letter pushing the IRS to launch a probe of the tax-exempt status of the Humane Society of the United States, a nonprofit that focuses on animal welfare and opposes animal cruelty. The letter followed the Humane Society’s support of a successful Missouri ballot measure strengthening regulations on dog breeders.

The letter, which was signed by Long and five other members of Congress, claimed that public documents showed “beyond question that lobbying is a ‘substantial part’ of [the Human Society’s] activities, and feel the IRS’s failure to act is attributable to the politically sensitive nature of [the society’s] activities,” they argued.

“Due to this, we write to request investigations by the Inspector General into [the Human Society’s] apparent improper activities and its tax-exempt status.”