WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and Mike Braun (R-Ind.) with Senators Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W. Va.), and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) introduced a bill to prevent the IRS from being used as a political weapon against conservative and ideological non-profit groups.

“The IRS should never expose taxpayers’ private information because of their political ideology. The Don’t Weaponize the IRS Act will prevent the Biden administration’s IRS agents from targeting Americans regardless of their political leanings,” said Risch

“We saw during the Obama years how the IRS is used as a political weapon to target dissenters, and now President Biden has supercharged the IRS with an extra $80 billion dollars. This bill will prevent the IRS from being weaponized against Americans for ideological reasons,” said Braun

“We need to protect the First Amendment rights of all Americans,” said Young. “Our bill will help ensure the IRS cannot target individuals based on their political beliefs.”

“Too often over the last decade, the IRS has been used for political means. This legislation will prevent the IRS from discriminating against Americans—because of their presumed political or religious beliefs—in the future,” said Romney

“The IRS should do its work impartially and without political bias,” said Moran. “This legislation will help prevent the IRS from unfairly targeting groups with conservative beliefs, especially in light of the Biden administration’s plan to spend billions of dollars to hire thousands of additional IRS employees.”

From 2010 to 2012, the Obama IRS spent over two years systematically targeting conservative tax-exempt groups. The Trump administration released a final rule in May 2020 that prevented the IRS from targeting certain tax-exempt groups based on their political beliefs. 

The  Don’t Weaponize the IRS Act codifies the Trump administration rule that protects groups regardless of their political ideology or beliefs and prevents the IRS from doxing donors to these groups.

Removing the requirement to report the names and addresses of donors helps protect taxpayers’ First Amendment rights: such information is not needed for tax administration purposes.