Richard Spencer’s white nationalist non-profit stripped of tax-exempt status: report

Richard Spencer’s white nationalist nonprofit, the National Policy Institute, was stripped of its tax-exempt status by the IRS for failing to file tax returns with the federal government, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.

“I don’t know what to say. I don’t want to make a comment because I don’t understand this stuff,” Spencer told the Times. “It’s a bit embarrassing, but it’s not good. We’ll figure it out.”

Spencer said he was led to believe he didn’t have to file federal tax returns due to an IRS error, and plans to appeal the loss of the tax-exempt status. The error, Spencer said, was that his group had been misclassified by the IRS and listed as not being required file the necessary tax forms.

Under Spencer’s leadership, the group stopped filing tax returns with the IRS after 2012.

{mosads}Tax records are required for nonprofits and are available to the public every year. The forms make public how much an organization makes, its spending and the amount its employees are paid. Failing to file three years in a row causes an organization to lose tax-exempt status.

The institute is also running into issues over whether it filed the proper fundraising paperwork, the Times reported, and whether it broke federal laws forbidding nonprofits from endorsing or opposing political candidates. 

Spencer and the National Policy Institute raised money to support Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and spoke against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton during the race.

During one conference in November, Spencer led chants of “Hail Trump.” Spencer told another crowd at a conference put on by the National Policy Institute, “We willed Donald Trump into office, made this dream into reality.” 

The National Policy Institute is a white supremacist think-tank based in Arlington, Va. Its website says it is “dedicated to the heritage, identity, and future of people of European descent in the United States, and around the world.”