 The charitable arm of the Taxpayers' Alliance — the Politics and Economics Research Trust — is under investigation by regulators following allegations that the group may have used the trust to gain tax relief for donations intended to fund political research.Revelations by "The Guardian" newspaper in 2009 resulted in the UK's Charity Commission opening a regulatory compliance case into the Trust.It was reported in December of the same year that the alliance requested certain of its donors — identified as "private businessman" located in the English Midlands - to channel funds through the trust for research into policies which might potentially damage their commercial interests.