SPLC’s tax exempt status under scrutiny as congressman accuses group of ‘act of fraud’

Rep.Mark Harris questions Special Counsel Jack Smith during a House Judiciary Committee hearing in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Jan.22, 2026.Smith testified on his team’s federal criminal investigations into President Donald Trump, including 2020 election interference and classified documents.(Al Drago/Getty Images)

The lawmaker’s letter to Bessent establishes that a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization “must be organized and operated primarily for charitable, educational, or similar purposes and cannot engage in political activity,” and explains why he thinks the SPLC is bucking thatlaw.

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“[T]he SPLC has consistently engaged in the partisan targeting of conservative groups by placing them on its so-called ‘hate map,’ alongside organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Brotherhood,” the letter notes.

“Meanwhile, violent left-wing groups such as Antifa and Jane’s Revenge have been widely ignored by the self-described civil rights organization.”

Harris, a pastor, referenced a major Biden-era scandal — the DOJ’s monitoring of what it called “radical traditionalist Catholics.” — in a  House Judiciary hearing in the spring.The Biden administration allegedly used theSPLC’s guidanceto justify the monitoring.

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The Southern Poverty Law Center released its 2022 map showing hate and anti-government groups across the United States.(Southern Poverty Law Center)

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TheAlabama-based nonprofitalso lumped mainstream Christian groups, like the Family Research Council and Alliance Defending Freedom, into its “Hate Map.”

And in 2012, crazed gunman Floyd Lee Corkins II attacked the Family Research Council office in Washington, D.C., and shot a security guard after he found out they were designated as an anti-LGBT organization on the SPLC’s website.

“I mean, we could go on and on and list those groups, but they all have in common that they happen to be just conservative groups in this country that stand on conservative principles,�

The North Carolina representative also tore into the SPLC over allegations the groupfunneled $4 million donor dollarsinto shell companies to fund the KKK and other extremist organizations, all while claiming to fight hate.

Harris claimed in his letter to Bessent this was “an act of fraud” rather than charity, and needs to be addressed as such.

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“It’s all in the hands of the it’s all up on Capitol Hill.At Treasury we prepare things in advance.We have prepared in advance that if the legislation is passed, but we will stick to the law,” explained Bessent.(Mark Schiefelbein/AP)

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“Through what we’re learning in thisindictment by the Department of Justicethat even points out how this $4 million has been misused or used, that one example was that they actually funded a Ku Klux Klan rally and funded the cross burning and paid for the gas to burn the cross,” he said.

He accused the SPLC of creating the racism it claimed to fight.

Harris referenced claims from this week’s congressional hearing that theSPLC saw a spikein contributions after the deadly 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.The group is accused of paying an informant to help plan the rally.

“That’s the way these groups work because, again, it becomes a money-making machine,” said Harris.“If they can keep things stirred up, if they keep things with people fighting, if they could keep people divided … then they accomplish what they want to accomplish, which at the end of the day, is all about the almighty dollar.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) building seen in March 2020 in Montgomery, Alabama.(Barry Lewis/InPictures via Getty Images)

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Harris’ letter concluded: “The evidence is clear: the SPLC does not operate as a charitable organization and should therefore lose its tax-exempt status.I respectfully ask that you direct the IRS to examine the SPLC’s Section 501(c)(3) status and take appropriate action to revoke their tax-exempt status.”

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The SPLC has denied the DOJ’s allegations.

�s request for comment.

Peter D�

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