Exclusive | Trump admin set to target George Soros nonprofit, Southern Poverty Law Center and CAIR in major tax crackdown: sources

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and the IRS could revoke the tax-free status of left-wing nonprofits such as George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, three sources familiar with the matter have told The Post.It is part of a Trump-backed crackdown on “bogus” charities, and Treasury officials are drawing up a sweeping audit of outfits deemed to be using and abusing Uncle Sam’s tax code, the three people briefed on the Treasury Department’s internal policy deliberations said.Bessent’s inner circle is drafting a blueprint that could ultimately strip non-compliant organizations of their 501(c)(3) status, according to two of the people familiar with the plans.The reviews could result in massive back payments and civil penalties, the same sources said.The initiative leans in part on a 2025 executive order signed by President Donald Trump targeting nonprofits operating with a “substantial illegal purpose,” paving the way for the IRS to issue fines or even strip the tax-exempt status of charities allegedly tied to political violence, protests or radical ideologies.Officials have also scrutinized a number of anti-corporate and labor-aligned advocacy groups that could end up on the blacklist, including the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, the anti-Amazon Athena Coalition, left-leaning watchdog MediaJustice, and the Strategic Organizing Center alongside its parent union, the SEIU, according to the three insiders briefed on the matter.One of the sources warned that Treasury Department officials were “like a dog with a bone” and reckoned that many of the groups and their donors could be “on borrowed time.”“There’s a lot of internal pressure to get it done, but some people are still moving too slowly at the IRS,” the source said.

“That is expected to change very soon.”The aggressive crackdown is already facing fierce legal blowback.Left-leaning legal powerhouse Pr...