The Trump administration is reportedly weighing an executive order that would label some nonprofits as having terrorist ties. If signed, certain groups would have their tax-exempt status suspended right away, which could cripple their work and dry up the donations that keep them running. The charities that feed families, protect animals, and respond to disasters could see their work put at risk before anyone proves a thing.
Sign the petition urging President Trump not to sign this order and to keep the normal legal process for nonprofits.
Normally, the IRS has to follow steps before it can penalize a nonprofit. It has to audit the group, give formal notice, and let the group challenge the decision in court. This order would reportedly skip those steps by using a part of the tax code that has never been used this way. A labeled group would likely have to sue to clear its name. While it did, it would owe taxes on its income, and donations to it would no longer be tax-deductible.
It is not clear which groups could be targeted, or how many. The Wall Street Journal reports that the order could possibly be aimed at the president's political opponents. A White House official called talk of the order speculative, but reports say officials have worked on it for months.
The government can already suspend a group's status over terrorist ties, but until now it has done that through a separate process based on sanctions. This order would rest on a direct decision by the president. Real support for terrorism should be prosecuted, but a group that is wrongly labeled would still pay the price before it ever got a day in court.
If the government believes a nonprofit broke the law, it should prove it first, not punish the group and make it prove its innocence later.
Sign the petition and tell President Trump not to sign any order that suspends nonprofits' tax-exempt status without due process.
