Richard Spencer’s White Nationalist Nonprofit Loses Tax-Exempt Status

Richard Spencer, who leads a movement that mixes racism, white nationalism and populism, speaks at the Texas A&M University campus Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016, in College Station, Texas. Texas A&M officials say they didn't... Richard Spencer, who leads a movement that mixes racism, white nationalism and populism, speaks at the Texas A&M University campus Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016, in College Station, Texas. Texas A&M officials say they didn't schedule the speech by Spencer, who was invited to speak by a former student who reserved campus space available to the public. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) MORE LESS
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The Internal Revenue Service has stripped a nonprofit run by prominent white nationalist Richard Spencer of its tax-exempt status for failing to file federal tax returns, according to a report by the Los Angeles Times.

The IRS retroactively stripped the white nationalist National Policy Institute of its tax-exempt status as of May 15, 2016, according to the LA Times.

According to the report, the National Policy Institute stopped filing federal tax returns with the IRS after 2012. Under the Pension Protection Act of 2006, any nonprofit that does not file federal taxes for three years in a row automatically loses its status as a tax-exempt entity.

The IRS apparently misclassified the National Policy Institute for years, according to the Los Angeles Times, and listed it as exempt from that filing requirement until it corrected that error in February.

Spencer told the Los Angeles Times on Monday that as a result of that error he believed his group was not required to file tax returns with the federal government. He said he would appeal the IRS’ actions.

“I don’t know what to say. I don’t want to make a comment because I don’t understand this stuff,” he said, as quoted in the report. “It’s a bit embarrassing, but it’s not good. We’ll figure it out.”

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