# OPS-130 — Tax-exempt status is not a political vet

> Uncapped political throughput requires a valid political vetting artefact; 501(c) tax-exempt status alone yields only standard terms.

- **Rule ID:** OPS-130
- **Layer:** Operational (`OPERATIONAL`)
- **Checks:** `political vetting artefact against throughput terms`
- **Severity:** MEDIUM — Usually survives review, but lowers your trust score or invites manual review.
- **When it bites:** Falls due after approval, once you are live and sending
- **How it is detected:** External record we cannot query — reported as a warning to verify
- **Fix type:** Wait on an external system or a required interval
- **Required by:** T-Mobile, TCR
- **Applies:** Applies when the use case is POLITICAL.
- **Canonical URL:** https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/operational/ops-130/

## Why this rule exists

Both facts sit on the brand record and one of them looks like the other, so a non-profit running a political programme reasonably expects its tax status to carry the throughput. It does not: the carriers want independent verification that the sender is who they claim, and a tax exemption verifies something else entirely.

## How to fix it

Obtain a political vet — Campaign Verify or an equivalent both carriers accept — and import it, if the programme needs uncapped throughput. Done when the throughput you planned against is backed by the artefact that grants it.

## Check this yourself

**Which artefact does the brand actually hold — a political vet, or 501(c) tax-exempt status?**

1. Read the brand record. Both facts sit there and one looks like the other.
2. Only a political vet — Campaign Verify or an equivalent both carriers accept — grants uncapped political throughput.
3. Obtain and import one if the programme needs that volume.

*What wrong looks like:* A non-profit running a political programme expects its tax status to carry the throughput. The carriers want independent verification that the sender is who they claim, and a tax exemption verifies something else entirely.

## Notes

Throughput terms granted by the carriers. What the user has to do is check which artefact their brand actually holds before planning volume; XBC-003 refuses a political campaign with no vetting at all, which is the approval-side question rather than this one.