Project 2025 Reported to IRS Over 'Violations'

TikTokers are urging people to report the conservative think tank behind Project 2025 to the Internal Revenue Service for allegedly violating the rules of its tax-exempt status.

Project 2025 is spearheaded by The Heritage Foundation with input from dozens of conservative-leaning groups and ex-officials from former president Donald Trump's administration. It has published a 900-page road map for a new Republican administration that includes plans to overhaul the federal government and oust thousands of government workers so that loyalists can be installed in their place.

Some TikTok creators have suggested that publishing the document, as well as engaging in political activity, is a violation of the IRS code for tax-exempt organizations.

"Did you know that tax-exempt organizations under Internal Revenue Code 501(c)(3) are prohibited from participating in politics, including but not limited to endorsing or supporting a specific political candidate or writing and publishing a political manifesto during a presidential campaign?" Morgon Branning said in a video that has amassed more than 800,000 views since it was posted on Tuesday.

The IRS website states that 501(c)(3) organizations "may not publish or distribute printed statements or make oral statements on behalf of, or in opposition to, a candidate for public office. Consequently, a written or oral endorsement of a candidate is strictly forbidden."

A spokesperson for The Heritage Foundation said the organization "remains fully compliant with all legal requirements and regulations governing 501(c)(3) organizations."

They added: "Think tanks and research institutes across the policy spectrum have continuously operated under this non-profit status. The Heritage Foundation has never engaged in political campaign intervention, and it has not, and will not, endorse, support, or oppose a political candidate. We provide nonpartisan expertise to policymakers and remain dedicated to advancing conservative principles through comprehensive research."

The IRS have been contacted for comment via email.

Project 2025 has repeatedly said that it does not speak for any candidate or campaign.

"We are a coalition of more than 110 conservative groups advocating policy and personnel recommendations for the next conservative president," a Project 2025 spokesperson previously said in a statement to Newsweek. "But it is ultimately up to that president, who we believe will be President Trump, to decide which recommendations to implement."

Branning's video urged people to complete and send a complaint to the IRS using Form 13909. In the video, Branning showed a completed form and said others could copy it verbatim if they wanted.

"The Heritage Foundation has been widely revealed as the architects of Project 2025, Presidential Transition Project, and has shown very outspoken support for presidential candidate Donald J. Trump," Branning wrote in the complaint.

The complaint referenced recent comments made by Kevin Roberts, the president of The Heritage Foundation. Roberts said Republicans were "in the process of taking this country back" on Steve Bannon's War Room podcast last week. He also said the country is the midst "of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be."

Branning's complaint said: "THIS IS POLITICAL and in violation of the rules of the Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3), which prohibits tax-exempt organizations from engaging in political activity as a whole, both directly and indirectly, whether they are showing support or opposition. The Heritage Foundation holds a tax-exempt status per 501(c)(3) and therefore has engaged in numerous violations of such code. Action MUST be taken, and these standards upheld."

Branning added in the video: "We need movement. We're essentially in the eleventh hour but any movement is good movement. We gotta go. Whatever we can do."

Other videos on TikTok are also urging people to report the Heritage Foundation to the IRS.

A TikTok user with the handle @johnrlmcnabb also referenced Roberts' comments in a video that has amassed more than 30,000 likes.

Roberts' comments are "participating in political activity, operating in opposition to a candidate that is currently running, as well as participating in any political campaign that's currently ongoing," the user said. "That is a violation of their 501(c)(3) status."

President Joe Biden's campaign has been working to draw more attention to Project 2025, calling it "an extreme policy and personnel playbook for Trump's second term that should scare the hell out of the American people."

Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, has denied ties to Project 2025 in recent days.

"I know nothing about Project 2025," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Friday. "I have no idea who is behind it. I disagree with some of the things they're saying and some of the things they're saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them."

Update 7/11/24, 6:10 a.m. ET: This article has been updated to add a statement from a spokesperson for The Heritage Foundation.