Iowa's leading anti-tax group – Iowans for Tax Relief – claims thousands of grassroots supporters but in reality the vast majority of its funds come from revenue – all untaxed – generated by multi-million dollar charitable endowments and private trusts established by the organization's founder, David M. Stanley.
Stanley, of Muscatine, died in August 2015, but his endowment funds and trusts continue to pour millions of dollars into the operation of Iowans for Tax Relief (ITR) and four other charitable organizations espousing a similar mantra of limited government and anti-tax messages, and funding like-minded conservative politicians for state and federal office.
The endowments underwrite more than a dozen management and staff positions in organizations pumping out a steady stream of propaganda on tax and government spending issues.
