The lobbying group reportedly received funding from a billionaire.
The House Ways and Means Committee sent a letter to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce this week, requesting tax records from between 2018 and 2022 to verify whether it received contributions from “anti-business” sponsors.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the largest business lobbying group in the world, operating as a tax-exempt nonprofit organization committed to supporting small businesses. However, last month, a media outlet reported that the group received more than $12 million from the Tides Foundation, a political fund tied to the billionaire George Soros.
The report claimed that this funding was contributed to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, a donor-advised fund. This type of fund allows contributors to secretly provide input into how the funding should be used, making the subsequent use of the funding difficult to track without carefully reviewing tax information.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has claimed that the report is “inaccurate.” However, Representative Jason Smith of Missouri, chairman of this tax-writing committee, cited it in his documents request to the organization.
“These reports are concerning because the Committee is evaluating whether tax-exempt organizations like USCC and USCCF are operating for the exempt purposes that allowed them to obtain tax-exempt status,” Representative Smith wrote. “Additionally, the Committee is concerned about whether donors to, and members of, organizations like yours have sufficient awareness of how their money is being spent.”
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For wisdom for Chairman Smith and his colleagues as they examine the status of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in light of funding it has received.
- For U.S. legislators as they investigate the nonprofit and tax-exempt status of large institutions.
Sources: The Hill, Breitbart
