The charitable arm of the Taxpayers’ Alliance is being investigated by regulators after the Guardian revealed the Tory-linked campaign group may have used the charity to gain tax relief, normally reserved for good causes, on donations for political research.

The Charity Commission has stepped up its scrutiny of the campaign group’s funding by opening a regulatory compliance case into the Politics and Economics Research Trust.

Earlier this month it emerged that, in order to benefit from gift aid, the alliance asked private Midlands businessmen to channel funds through the trust for research into policies which may damage their commercial interests. Organisations may not be charitable if they have political purposes, according to commission guidelines.

“The scope of the investigation is to address the allegations relating to the charity’s relationship with the Taxpayers’ Alliance,” a spokesman for the commission said. The regulator opens such cases when “available information indicates misconduct or mismanagement has occurred” and where trustees’ actions “may have been improper”.

…more at The Guardian

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1. Liberal Conspiracy

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2. T_i_B

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3. Kevin Arscott

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11. Adam White

    missed this gem from a few days ago on @libcon http://tr.im/JkWU Taxpayers Alliance to get investigated

12. Adam White

    @TamesideEye its that bloody tr.im application http://liberalconspiracy.org/2009/12/30/taxpayers-alliance-charity-to-be-investigated/

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