Hedge-Fund Magnate Mercer Backs Group Attacking IRS

The New York hedge-fund manager Robert Mercer, one of the biggest conservative donors in the country, has been funding a group that's paying for a Tea Party lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service and seeking to sharply limit the role of the federal government.

Mercer's family foundation gave $500,000 in 2014 to a group called Citizens for Self Governance, according to a new filing obtained by Bloomberg this month. Mark Meckler, the group's president, said in an e-mail that the donation was in support of the group's Convention of States project, which seeks to amend the U.S. Constitution to restrict government reach. According to the website of an affiliated group, among the amendments it could consider are term limits for Congress and the Supreme Court; a balanced budget requirement; and "an upper limit on federal taxation."