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In your face Center for Consumer Freedom!
IRS deems tax-exempt status for PETA appropriate
The Associated Press
NORFOLK, Va. - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which turns the spotlight on practices it deems abusive toward creatures, has survived its own scrutiny by the Internal Revenue Service.
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The animal-rights charity will stay in business, PETA general counsel Jeff Kerr said Monday. An IRS spokeswoman confirmed that the organization has retained its tax-exempt status.
The IRS conducted a 20-month audit in response to complaints by organizations such as KFC and Ringling Bros. that have been targets of PETA protests, Kerr said.
The Foundation to Support Animal Protection, PETA's supporting organization, also was audited. Its tax-exempt status also was found to be appropriate.
"This campaign was clearly directed at trying to silence PETA," Kerr said.
This was the second time the IRS had audited PETA. The attorney said the first was conducted in 1990-92.
The IRS spokeswoman said disclosure laws prohibited her from saying whether PETA was audited or what would have prompted such an examination. She supplied a document that said the IRS only acts on complaints about a tax-exempt status if an agent determines there is "a reasonable belief the allegations may be true."
PETA, founded in 1980, has an annual budget of $20 million. It employs about 170 people at its Norfolk headquarters, and has small offices in New York and Los Angeles.
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