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ICYMI: Tax Cheat Pete Snyder Hides Information from the IRS

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The VA GOP gubernatorial candidates will do anything to prove they are the most like Donald Trump – but Pete Snyder has taken that gambit a little too far. Snyder was caught shrouding information from the IRS, a key element of the Trump playbook.


Axios reports Snyder’s organization, the Virginia 30 Day Fund, filed its application for tax exemption under a rule that allows organizations with budgets under $50,000 to disclose almost no information about the inner workings of the entity, including about how much executives are paid and the organization’s conflicts of interest policies. The VA 30 Day Fund’s filing amounted to a sworn statement that it had not and did not plan on raising more than $50,000. At the same time last spring, Snyder bragged about having already donated $100,000 to help get the organization off the ground and a few days later, bragged about having raised a quarter of a million dollars into the fund, five-times the amount his organization reported to the IRS just days prior. 


In addition to lying about his small business fund,  Snyder is also refusing to support the popular American Rescue Plan which is providing critical economic relief for Virginia’s small businesses. 


When all this is over, Snyder should take his business talents over to Trump tower.


Read more about Snyder’s lies to the IRS below:


Axios: Va. candidate’s COVID charity shrouded key information


Virginia gubernatorial candidate Pete Snyder boasted about a cash haul for his COVID-19 relief nonprofit last year that was more than five times what it had estimated raising in a sworn statement to the IRS, Axios has learned.


Why it matters: The Virginia 30 Day Fund’s mission is central to Snyder’s political brand. It’s a calling card for the Republican in a crowded primary in a bellwether off-year race. But early, apparently erroneous disclosures to the IRS allowed the group to shield from public view key information about its operators, operations and finances.


What’s new: Axios obtained a copy of the Virginia 30 Day Fund’s application for tax exemption, dated April 10, 2020. It was signed by the group’s treasurer.


  • The IRS filing, submitted under penalty of perjury, certified the group had not raised, and did not expect to raise, more than $50,000 per year during its first three years.
  • Nonprofits that bring in more than $50,000 per year are required to provide far more granular information to the IRS, including details about executive compensation, conflict of interest policies, vendor contracts and business relationships among the groups’ directors.


Between the lines: Days before the filing, on April 6, Snyder told The Washington Post he and his wife had put up $100,000 in seed money for the group.


  • And on April 8, Snyder told Richmond’s NBC affiliate the group had already “raised over a quarter of (a) million dollars.” He repeated the same number in a Facebook post the following day.
  • By mid-June, the Virginia 30 Day Fund had raised nearly $2.8 million, according to Snyder, who in January stepped down from his position with the group and announced his run for governor.


Background: Snyder, a businessman and political consultant, formed the Virginia 30 Day Fund with his wife to provide forgivable loans to businesses struggling amid the pandemic and its resulting economic fallout.


  • Snyder’s campaign website cites the nonprofit to bolster his credentials as a “true champion of small business.”


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