Is AARP a Business?

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National Review:

Last week, two Republican congressmen issued a report about AARP — the organization formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons. The document questions AARP’s tax-exempt status, and in the process provides a slew of important information.

The issue of tax exemption is a thorny one — as the congressmen note, the IRS would need to conduct a full audit to sort out the group’s finances. But one thing is clear: Seniors should take the report into account before joining AARP.

Sure, everyday retirees might not care much about whether AARP’s various subdivisions have transferred money amongst themselves improperly, or whether their boards overlap to a suspicious degree. They might even be thrilled that AARP has managed to increase its revenue by slapping its name on insurance products, rather than by increasing dues or hounding members for donations. But they most certainly should be concerned about how AARP benefited when Obamacare gutted Medicare Advantage, about how much AARP is paying its executives, and about how AARP refused to fully cooperate with the committee’s investigators.