This week, U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., introduced a proposal to change the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and remove the International Olympic Committee (IOC) of its tax-exempt status.
Waltz brought out the “Irresponsible Olympic Collaboration Act” with U.S. Rep. Jennifer Wexton, D-Va., as the main co-sponsor. Other backers of the proposal include U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, R-Fla..
The congressman’s office noted the bill “follows repeated attempts from U.S. officials and numerous international human rights groups to move the 2022 Winter Olympics out of China due to their ongoing human rights atrocities, including what the U.S. State Department has determined to be an ongoing genocide against the Uyghur population” and “American corporate sponsorships and television contracts are by-far the largest source of funding for the IOC.”
“The American taxpayer can no longer subsidize the IOC while it siphons off hundreds of millions of dollars directly to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to help build up Beijing’s infrastructure and flies in the face of 501(c)(4) law. The IOC is complicit in promoting the regime’s agenda to distract the world from their atrocities with the Olympic Fanfare,” said Waltz. “Adding insult to injury to the victims of the Uyghur genocide, the IOC is clothing their officials for the games with uniforms sourced from forced-labor concentration camps in Xinjiang, flaunting their indifference to the cries of the oppressed. The corporate partners for the 2022 Genocide Olympics should be ashamed to be associated with the IOC and the CCP’s propaganda ploy.”
“The IOC has made it crystal clear that it will prioritize profits over human rights, standing firmly on the side of the Chinese government to aid and abet the cover-up of the Uyghur genocide and other horrific human rights abuses ahead of next month’s Olympic Games,” said Wexton. “Those who are enabling these atrocities will not change their behavior until we hit them where it hurts—their bottom line. I’m proud to introduce this bipartisan bill with Rep. Waltz to strip the IOC of their tax-exempt status.”
The bill was sent to the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee. So far, there is no companion measure over in the U.S. Senate.
