The Great Smoky Mountain Journal
Staff Reports
Posted: Monday, January 01, 2018 12:26 PM
Albuquerque Tea Party Granted Tax Exempt Status After Eight Years
Graham Bartlett, president of the local Tea Party, said he was informed about a month ago that the group's request was going through, The Albuquerque Journal reported.
The group filed its request in December 2009. Several months later, the IRS demanded more documentation concerning the organization's activities. The group complied, but then the IRS requested even more documentation. The Tea Party provided more than 1,000 pages of documentation about the group's activities. Eventually, it filed a lawsuit against the IRS.
"What I understand is the IRS was targeting any organization that had the name 'Tea Party' in it or the word 'conservative,'" Bartlett said. "We weren't the only ones."
In 2012, the American Center for Law and Justice, or ACLJ, filed a lawsuit against the IRS on behalf of the Albuquerque Tea Party as well as other conservative groups whose requests for tax-exempt status seemed to be put on hold during the Obama administration.
"The ACLJ is pleased to announce that after a long, arduous legal battle, our client, the Albuquerque Tea Party, has finally received their tax-exempt status – nearly eight years after originally filing their 501(c)(4) application," the organization said in a statement on its website Wednesday. "This is a major victory for free speech."