NY's Schneiderman widens probe of exempt groups - NEWS10 ABC: Albany, New York News, Weather, Sports

NY's Schneiderman widens probe of exempt groups

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - An official familiar with the inquiry tells The Associated Press that New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is expanding an investigation into tax-exempt social welfare groups to see whether they are crossing permissible boundaries from education into national politics.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the inquiry has not been publicly announced, says the roughly two-dozen organizations are both pro-Republican and pro-Democrat, and the issue is whether they should qualify for tax-exempt status.

Under state law, any organization that gets $25,000 in annual donations from New York sources is required to register with the attorney general's Charities Bureau.

That is the basis for the requests for information the past several weeks from groups ranging from the Alliance for Retired Americans Education Fund to Americans for Limited Government.

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