Press Releases

Sen. Rick Scott Introduces Legislation to Strip International Olympics Committee of Tax-Exempt Status

February 4, 2022

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, as the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing begin, Senator Rick Scott joined Congressman Michael Waltz in introducing the bicameral and bipartisan Irresponsible Olympic Collaboration (IOC) Act in the U.S. Senate. This bill, which Congressman Waltz introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this month, would strip the International Olympics Committee (IOC) of its 501(c)(4) tax-exempt status. The legislation would not affect the Paralympic Committee’s tax-exempt status.

 

Since 1992, the IOC has been recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(4) tax-exempt organization. However, in recent years, the IOC has given billions to authoritarian regimes, including $880 million to Communist China for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games and $1.25 billion for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. The IOC has provided these funds despite international outcries regarding human rights abuses and atrocities committed by the Chinese Communist Party.

 

Senator Rick Scott said, “The IOC must answer for its complete failure to address or even acknowledge the horrific human rights abuses and genocide occurring at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party. In helping Communist China whitewash its crimes and abuses, the IOC has lost all credibility and forfeited its ability to operate as a tax-exempt entity. In the United States, we unapologetically stand for human rights and democracy, and Congress must make clear that our taxpayers will never be asked to subsidize the operations of an organization that so shamelessly profits from business with such an evil regime.”

 

Representative Michael Waltz said, “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. 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.” 

 

Since entering the Senate, Senator Rick Scott has repeatedly called on the IOC to stand for human rights:

 

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