Obama's IRS restored tax-exempt status for
Hamas-linked CAIR despite years of delinquent filings
At the same time the Internal Revenue Service delayed or denied requests for tax-exempt status from hundreds of conservative non-profit groups, it was quietly restoring the tax-exempt status of an Islamist front group accused of collaborating with terrorists.
Last year, the politicized agency reinstated the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations' tax-exempt status despite years of delinquent tax filings. CAIR officials had met with officials inside the White House before the decision was made.
Though Democrat-connected CAIR did not officially endorse Obama, many of its staffers helped turn out the Muslim vote for his re-election. CAIR boasted that its own polling showed more than 85 percent of Muslim-Americans voted for Obama.
In 2011, the IRS stripped the group's national office of its nonprofit status for failure to file annual tax reports as required by federal law.
The moved followed requests by then-Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., and other congressional leaders asking the IRS to investigate after the 2009 bestseller "Muslim Mafia" called attention to CAIR?s missing IRS filings and foreign donations.
During the years CAIR failed to disclose its donors to the government, it solicited funds from Libya, Sudan and other terror-sponsoring foreign governments, according to "Muslim Mafia". CAIR is not registered as a foreign agent.
CAIR repeatedly failed to file its annual disclosure report, IRS Form 990. CAIR blames a clerical error for the delinquency and claims to have completed the forms. However, several news organizations, including Politico.com and Gannett Co., have asked CAIR for the 2007-2010 documents, and CAIR has not been able to produce them.
"Given CAIR's status as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror-financing case, this failure to comply with federal disclosure laws is all the more troubling," U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf, the co-chairman of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, wrote the IRS in a separate request for investigation in 2011.
CAIR's terrorist ties run deep. The Justice Department lists it among U.S. front groups for Hamas, a Palestinian terrorist organization. And several CAIR officials have been convicted or deported on terrorism-related charges.
The FBI says that until suspicious ties between the leadership of CAIR and that of Hamas are resolved, it will no longer work with CAIR as a partner in counter-terrorism efforts.
Despite these red flags, the IRS in June 2012 sent CAIR-Foundation Inc. a letter stating the controversial nonprofit had regained its tax-exempt status as a 501(c)3. At the same time, the IRS demanded tea party and other patriot groups turn over donor rolls, membership lists and contacts with political figures, among other things, before the agency would consider granting tax-exempt status to them.
CAIR Foundation, which is listed at the same 453 New Jersey Ave. address as CAIR's national headquarters in Washington, told the Washington Post that "all the paperwork issues have been resolved" concerning the organization.
CAIR-Foundation Inc.'s latest filing, and even this tax document is incomplete. It is a partial return for the calendar year 2011, covering only the period from Aug. 9, 2011, to Dec. 31, 2011. The final page of the return, in fact, requests an extension from the IRS.
"Additional time is required to obtain information necessary in filing a complete and accurate return," states CAIR's accountant Joey Musmar.
The filing says the organization solicited $3,964,990 in gifts, grants and other contributions that "were not tax deductible." An annual fundraiser raised a net $106,879.
At the beginning of 2011, CAIR's liabilities exceeded its assets by $940,279.
It also owed "CAIR Inc." $722,261 for ?charity consulting. "This amount is listed as a "loan". CAIR Inc. is listed as a "C Corp."
CAIR insists its tax returns for 2007-2010 exist. Yet it still won't produce them, despite repeated requests. According to the IRS, nonprofits must make their tax returns available to the public upon request.
CAIR lists Todd Gallinger, director of chapter development, as its contact for such matters, at (202) 488-8787 and tgallinger@cair.com.
It's not clear what, if anything, the IRS investigated concerning CAIR's filings. The agency did not respond to requests for comment
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