IRS Targets Conservative Groups.

[FaninAma]

I am sure this is just an isolated incident and doesn't go up any higher in the federal beaurocracy....right? http://news.yahoo.com/ap-exclusive-irs-knew-tea-190901016.html

[TAFBSooner]

I am sure this is just an isolated incident and doesn't go up any higher in the federal beaurocracy....right? http://news.yahoo.com/ap-exclusive-irs-knew-tea-190901016.html

Heh.

[diverdog]

I am sure this is just an isolated incident and doesn't go up any higher in the federal beaurocracy....right? http://news.yahoo.com/ap-exclusive-irs-knew-tea-190901016.html

A lot of people need to be fired. I do not agree with the Tea Party politically but they have the right to be politically active and this behavior is outrageous.

[sappstuf]

This should have been a story before the election... But Dems just responded that it was the crazy right-wingers complaining about nothing.

This is just another story the press should have accurately reported on when it counted, but didn't. Sorta like Benghazi now.

Here are some of the questions that the IRS was asking these groups.

http://media.hotair.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IRS2-e1368227720157.png

http://media.hotair.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IRS3-e1368227778781.png

http://media.hotair.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IRS6-e1368228161188.png

http://media.hotair.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IRS12-e1368228620245.png

http://media.hotair.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IRS1-e1368227519802.png

And if you don't do exactly as the IRS says:

http://media.hotair.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IRS9-e1368228540734.png

This was a attack on free speech that was directed at Obama's enemies. Hey... Wasn't that what Nixon was impeached for?


He has, acting personally and through his subordinates and agents, endeavoured to obtain from the Internal Revenue Service, in violation of the constitutional rights of citizens, confidential information contained in income tax returns for purposed not authorized by law, and to cause, in violation of the constitutional rights of citizens, income tax audits or other income tax investigations to be intitiated or conducted in a discriminatory manner.

And now the IRS is the enforcement arm of Obamacare... Great.

[sappstuf]

Here is the letter Issa sent the IRS in March of last year.

http://media.aclj.org/pdf/issa-jordan-letter-to-irs-regarding-intrusive-tea-party-questionnaires.pdf

Probably just another "partisan witch hunt by Issa who makes a living out of investigating Democrats"....

[olevetonahill]

Oh Hell Noes, No way in hellzs that the the Super sponge's could hurt any of us.

[diverdog]

This should have been a story before the election... But Dems just responded that it was the crazy right-wingers complaining about nothing.

This is just another story the press should have accurately reported on when it counted, but didn't. Sorta like Benghazi now.

Here are some of the questions that the IRS was asking these groups.

http://media.hotair.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IRS2-e1368227720157.png

http://media.hotair.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IRS3-e1368227778781.png

http://media.hotair.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IRS6-e1368228161188.png

http://media.hotair.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IRS12-e1368228620245.png

http://media.hotair.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IRS1-e1368227519802.png

And if you don't do exactly as the IRS says:

http://media.hotair.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IRS9-e1368228540734.png

This was a attack on free speech that was directed at Obama's enemies. Hey... Wasn't that what Nixon was impeached for?



And now the IRS is the enforcement arm of Obamacare... Great.

I have helped form two 501 (c) 4 organizations and it is very hard. I guess they are worried about tax evasion. None the less these sort of questions are out of line. The last part of the question in 9 is one that is asked a lot.

[cleller]

I read in the WSJ that they were targeting organizations with "tea party" or "patriot" in their names.

Not much problem with that, eh? Not like they were targeting groups with "Zion" or "Hebrew", that would have been too old-school. The paths corrupt dictatorial regimes walk are fairly similar, though.

[sappstuf]

So now ABC news is reporting that this goes all the way back to 2010 and the midterms.. At least a year earlier than previously thought.

[sappstuf]

“I first learned about this from the same news reports that I think most people learned about this,” Obama began.

Does anyone really believe this? Lying isn't much to this man.

If there are some that believe it to be true, what does it say about Obama's executive leadership?

[cleller]

Does anyone really believe this? Lying isn't much to this man.

If there are some that believe it to be true, what does it say about Obama's executive leadership?

That it has thus far been one long Massengill moment?

[TAFBSooner]

There doesn't seem to be much accountability for anything a president does, once they get past what Bush the Lesser called the "accountability moment," i.e., second term election.

But by golly you and I are on candid camera every day.

[sappstuf]

Once again everything the Obama adminstration said early on was an outright lie. We were told it was just a couple of low level employees in the Cleveland bureau. Now from the Washington Post:


Internal Revenue Service officials in Washington and at least two other offices were involved in the targeting of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status, making clear the effort reached well beyond the branch in Cincinnati that was initially blamed, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.

...


In one instance, … Ron Bell, an IRS employee, informed an attorney representing a conservative group focused on voter fraud that the application was under review in Washington. On several other occasions, IRS officials in D.C. and California sent detailed questionaires to conservative groups asking more than a dozen questions about their voter outreach and other activities, according to the documents.

...


Moreover, details of the IRS’s efforts to target conservative groups reached the highest levels of the agency in May 2012, far earlier than has been disclosed, according to Republican congressional aides briefed by the IRS and the Treasury Inspector for Tax Administration on the details of their reviews.

Different offices stretching from California to Washington DC?? Sounds like there was some coordination going on.

[sappstuf]

One of my friends had wrapped up an audit, and then, the following year, was identified as a major Republican donor in the New York Times. A week after the Times article appeared, he got a call from the IRS, saying they were going to audit him. He expressed surprise, telling the IRS agent that he had a letter from the agency to the effect that he should be fine for the next three years. Which was greeted with silence; he didn’t hear from the IRS again.

But it wasn't political....

[diverdog]

Once again everything the Obama adminstration said early on was an outright lie. We were told it was just a couple of low level employees in the Cleveland bureau. Now from the Washington Post:



Different offices stretching from California to Washington DC?? Sounds like there was some coordination going on.

Asking about political activity has always been part of that questionnaire. Sic em can weigh in here about 501 (c) 4 money. If I remember right you can not lobby with the money but you can do voter education.

[cleller]

So right now we're in the phase where the administration is trying to squash the opposition thru govt sponsored attacks on their political groups, and also buy trying to manipulate or cut off their access to funds?

No reason to worry about that.

http://i701.photobucket.com/albums/ww14/cs6000/images_zps66dd3cd4.jpg (http://s701.photobucket.com/user/cs6000/media/images_zps66dd3cd4.jpg.html)

http://i701.photobucket.com/albums/ww14/cs6000/kristallnacht1_1110849c_zps0045b86a.jpg (http://s701.photobucket.com/user/cs6000/media/kristallnacht1_1110849c_zps0045b86a.jpg.html)

[MR2-Sooner86]

The organization responsible for taxes targets groups opposed to taxes?

In other news scientist have just discovered that water is indeed wet.

[XingTheRubicon]

The organization responsible for taxes targets groups opposed to taxes?

In other news scientist have just discovered that water is indeed wet.

This is the first time in 150 years of the IRS anti tax groups have been found to be targeted.

[rock on sooner]

Aint hard to figger why the IRS would go after Taxed Enough
Already, prolly fearin fer their jobs. IMO, orta fire every dayum
one of em, up to and includin any one senior in any of the offices
that knew about it...jus sayin...

[cleller]

Holy Cow, now even Jon Stewart is calling Obama names over this scandal.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/05/jon-stewart-obama-irs-conspiracy-theories/65196/


Hard to believe, but if Jon Stewart says it aren't all Dems supposed to accept his pronouncement?

[MR2-Sooner86]

This is the first time in 150 years of the IRS anti tax groups have been found to be targeted.

We haven't had the type of egotistical @sshole in the White House, like we do now, in the past 150 years either.

[FaninAma]

I just love me some big federal government. Thank you Abe, Woodrow, Franklin, Lyndon, Richard, George and Barack. Now We will never have to worry about anything because we can always implicitly trust the federal government to do the right thing, take care of our every need and never pose a danger to civil liberties.

Rand Paul is looking better and better all the time.

[MR2-Sooner86]

It's going to be wonderful when they start running healthcare.

[diverdog]

Here is the real issue, political groups on both sides abusing a loophole in the tax code for tax exempt status on what is suppose to be community or charitable activities not political activities.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20130514,0,1622097.column

[sappstuf]

Here is the real issue, political groups on both sides abusing a loophole in the tax code for tax exempt status on what is suppose to be community or charitable activities not political activities.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20130514,0,1622097.column

No it isn't. People and groups have been abusing loopholes in the tax code since the tax code came into being.

Do you know if the Dems Nixon was illegally investigating were actually cheating on their taxes? No, because it wasn't the real issue.

[diverdog]

No it isn't. People and groups have been abusing loopholes in the tax code since the tax code came into being.

Do you know if the Dems Nixon was illegally investigating were actually cheating on their taxes? No, because it wasn't the real issue.

You are mixing apples and oranges again. No one said they were cheating on their taxes. Nor were there audits. Nor am I justifying what has happened.

Let me ask you this. Do you like fact that you are asked to subsidize a George Sorros outfit to promote his world views? Because that is what is happening through his c4 organizations.

I think that all money for all political activity should not be tax free and all donors are named. The campaign finance system we have right now is corrupting our government.
The c4 status needs to be reigned in. Please explain to me how Move On.Org Civil Action is a charity?

I will also tell you this? When you open a political campaign checking account it comes under a whole lot of scrutiny because that is one of the top ways money is moved to evade taxes in this country.

[sappstuf]

You are mixing apples and oranges again. No one said they were cheating on their taxes. Nor were there audits. Nor am I justifying what has happened.

Let me ask you this. Do you like fact that you are asked to subsidize a George Sorros outfit to promote his world views? Because that is what is happening through his c4 organizations.

I think that all money for all political activity should not be tax free and all donors are named. The campaign finance system we have right now is corrupting our government.
The c4 status needs to be reigned in. Please explain to me how Move On.Org Civil Action is a charity?

I will also tell you this? When you open a political campaign checking account it comes under a whole lot of scrutiny because that is one of the top ways money is moved to evade taxes in this country.

Well then you are bringing oranges to the apple orchard... ;)

In further news on the topic from the USAToday:


WASHINGTON -- In February 2010, the Champaign Tea Party in Illinois received approval of its tax-exempt status from the IRS in 90 days, no questions asked.

That was the month before the Internal Revenue Service started singling out Tea Party groups for special treatment. There wouldn't be another Tea Party application approved for 27 months.

In that time, the IRS approved perhaps dozens of applications from similar liberal and progressive groups, a USA TODAY review of IRS data shows.

No Tea Party applications approved for 27 months... Nice way to stiffle free speech.

[KABOOKIE]

Obama has been all over this like a hero to the republicans. I ain’t buying it. Low level staffers did this on their own? Right. This is the old Potomac Two Step.

[XingTheRubicon]

Obama has been all over this like a hero to the republicans. I ain’t buying it. Low level staffers did this on their own? Right. This is the old Potomac Two Step.

I guess it comes down to who benefited the most. Does it make sense that low-level employees risked their entire future for a result that didn't really affect them that much? In other words, do middle-class, 20 years on the job citizens rob banks? No. Why? Well because they don't have to...too much risk for someone who isn't desperate.

This is frightening that it was even possible.

[diverdog]

Well then you are bringing oranges to the apple orchard... ;)

In further news on the topic from the USAToday:



No Tea Party applications approved for 27 months... Nice way to stiffle free speech.

Not sure what you are referring to. Free speech was not stiffled. They can still set up PACs and donate to candidates.

I helped set up a land conservancy 501 (c) 3 in Delaware and it took two years. The IRS put us through the ringer. I am pretty sure they wanted to make sure we were not creating an illegal tax shelter.

501 (c) 4 is suppose to be for "social welfare programs or local associations of employees". It's intent has been totally corrupted by politicians and it will never get fixed.

My problem with this is that they targeted Tea Party groups when they should target all of the 501 (c) 4 groups. You guys bitch about special interest and this is one of the roots of that evil.

[rock on sooner]

Not sure the level of IRS folks doing that stuff. I've read that
top level officials in three offices knew what was going on and
did nothing about it. I said earlier that they all should be canned
and if criminal activity is part of it, then take em to court. If
guilty, toss em in jail.
DD has a great point...they SHOULD target all the 501 (c) 4 groups!
And, while they're at it, the SCOTUS should revisit and overturn
Citizens United...

[TitoMorelli]

Not sure what you are referring to. Free speech was not stiffled. They can still set up PACs and donate to candidates.

I helped set up a land conservancy 501 (c) 3 in Delaware and it took two years. The IRS put us through the ringer. I am pretty sure they wanted to make sure we were not creating an illegal tax shelter.

501 (c) 4 is suppose to be for "social welfare programs or local associations of employees". It's intent has been totally corrupted by politicians and it will never get fixed.

My problem with this is that they targeted Tea Party groups when they should target all of the 501 (c) 4 groups. You guys bitch about special interest and this is one of the roots of that evil.

You should have called it the Malik Obama Land Conservancy Group. Then your application would've been fast-tracked, and even granted retroactive exempt status.

http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/14/irs-official-lerner-approved-exemption-for-obama-brothers-charity/

[FaninAma]

It is so obvious that the IRS was directed by higherups in this administration to target conservative groups after the *** kicking Obama and the Democrats received in the 2010 elections.

Welcome to Amerika.

[jkjsooner]

Here is the real issue, political groups on both sides abusing a loophole in the tax code for tax exempt status on what is suppose to be community or charitable activities not political activities.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20130514,0,1622097.column

Well, they need to make a big effort to make sure the enforcement isn't politicized.

I understand to some point the IRS's thinking. There probably wasn't an explosion of liberal political / charitable groups created in 2009/2010 so they could get a lot of bang for their buck by searching for terms like "Tea Party" but they just have to be smarter and more balanced than that.

[jkjsooner]

I guess it comes down to who benefited the most. Does it make sense that low-level employees risked their entire future for a result that didn't really affect them that much? In other words, do middle-class, 20 years on the job citizens rob banks? No. Why? Well because they don't have to...too much risk for someone who isn't desperate.

This is frightening that it was even possible.

Let me give you a hypothetical. I have no idea if it is true but it is entirely possible. A middle manager is under pressure to find political organizations that are improperly claiming tax exempt status. The manager knows that there have been tons of new political organizations created in the last couple of years that include things like "tea party" in their name. He thinks searching on like terms is the quickest and easiest way to find offending organizations. He doesn't think he's taking a risk because he's just trying to find the most offenders as possible so he's using the terms that he feels are probable to find offenders. He may not even realize the biased route he's taken or justifies it by arguing that statistics would show that most new political organizations created in the time period in question used these terms more often than other terms.

I'm not saying this was the rationale but I could see it being something like this.

[FaninAma]

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/05/14/Obama-campaign-co-chair-attacked-Romney-conservative-group-in-2012-with-leaked-IRS-scandal-documents

Jk, your hypothetical doesn't hold water. This was a move directed from the White House after the 2010 elections. It will eventually come out because it crosses all party lines.

[diverdog]

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/05/14/Obama-campaign-co-chair-attacked-Romney-conservative-group-in-2012-with-leaked-IRS-scandal-documents

Jk, your hypothetical doesn't hold water. This was a move directed from the White House after the 2010 elections. It will eventually come out because it crosses all party lines.

This is entitely different than what is being discussed in this thread.

[FaninAma]

This is entitely different than what is being discussed in this thread.
No, it's not. This thread is about politicization of the IRS to attack and silence the opposition.

[FaninAma]

Sure this was limited and due to a few rogue agents in Cincinnatti without direction from higher up or political motivation.
http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2013/05/15/Rev-Franklin-Graham-Sends-Letter-to-Obama-Saying-IRS%20Targeted-Christian-Charities

[diverdog]

No, it's not. This thread is about politicization of the IRS to attack and silence the opposition.

You mean like this?

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-07-13/news/sns-rt-usa-taxfundraisingl2e8icenx-20120713_1_tax-exempt-status-tax-exempt-organizations-ofer-lion

Or

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE94C03N20130513?irpc=932

[FaninAma]

DD, I am glad you are on board with those who see the inherrant danger in politicizing the IRS. Now we just have to find who is responsible.

[jkjsooner]

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/05/14/Obama-campaign-co-chair-attacked-Romney-conservative-group-in-2012-with-leaked-IRS-scandal-documents

Jk, your hypothetical doesn't hold water. This was a move directed from the White House after the 2010 elections. It will eventually come out because it crosses all party lines.

I didn't say that I knew either way. I'm just saying that the scenario I posted is a very believable scenario.

If you were an agent and someone asked you to find political organizations that are attempting to get tax exempt status (thus most likely a new organization) you would probably think that looking for the most probable words that would identify the organization as being political would be a good starting point. If it were 2009 or 2010, words like "tea party" would be the obvious choice. You just have to be smart enough to know that doing so introduces some severe bias.

[diverdog]

DD, I am glad you are on board with those who see the inherrant danger in politicizing the IRS. Now we just have to find who is responsible.

Agreed.

[cleller]

Saw Obama expressing his outrage on the news tonight. Reminded me quite a bit of the "I did not have sexual relations with that woman. Miss Lewinsky..." speech.

[olevetonahill]

DD, I am glad you are on board with those who see the inherrant danger in politicizing the IRS. Now we just have to find who is responsible.

They done Found the dude and Fired him, Alls well now .

[diverdog]

They done Found the dude and Fired him, Alls well now .

There will be more firings and possible criminal charges.

The bigger issue is that congress needs to close this loophole and give more guidance on tax exempt organization. Political activity in any shape, way or form should not be tax free. What is going on here is a blatant misuse of the tax code by both parties. The only way politicians should be able to raise money is through direct donations or through PACs. All donors and donotions should be fully disclosed. Keep the IRS as far away from political activity as possible.

[sappstuf]

Yep.


Lie No. 9: Lerner says that there was no political pressure to investigate tea-party groups.

In fact, Senator Carl Levin (D., Mich.) repeatedly pressed the agency to investigate conservative groups falling under Lerner’s jurisdiction. What we have, then, is this: Under a Democratic administration, the IRS was under pressure from Democratic elected officials to investigate political enemies of the Democratic party. The agency did so. Its commissioner lied to Congress about its doing so.

[sappstuf]

Get them.


IRS employees received an e-mail earlier today warning, “URGENT: Do not wipe laptops/desktops.” It is an indication that the inspector general’s office is conducting a new investigation into the besieged agency, after it released a report this week. “We have been instructed not to wipe any T[ax] E[xempt] G[overnment] E[ntity] systems,” the e-mail advised.

The ageny is in the process of “copying every hard drive in TEGE across the IRS,” an IRS employee who asked not to be named tells National Review Online, in order to preserve “all the data on every hard drive that TEGE employees use.”

The TEGE division, responsible for granting tax-exempt status to 501(c)(4) groups, was the subject of the inspector general’s report released yesterday, which found employees in the division had unfairly scrutinized conservative groups. According to the source, the data preservation is related to a new IG investigation, this one targeting individual agency employees. The source could not confirm that the new investigation is related to the charges leveled in yesterday’s IG report, but if it is, it could lead the inspector general’s to identify the employees at fault and result in their prosecution.

The investigation that produced yesterday’s report was an audit that did not focus on the actions of particular individuals, and vaguely attributed malfeasance to poor management – “they were looking at how something happened and why it happened,” the source says — but the new investigation could lead to more specific charges. “If the inspector general is doing an audit process and they ask you questions and they think you’re lying, they send the badge and gun guys to talk to you,” he explains. (The liberal watchdog group ProPublica said this week that IRS officials had leaked to them the confidential applications of nine conservative groups, confirming that IRS employees have engaged in criminal behavior.)

The investigation into the actions of individual employees began several weeks ago, according to the source, and data preservation started in the Cincinnati office, the same one charged with improperly targeting conservative groups. All recovered data will be uploaded to a restricted-access server designated for data recovery, where only investigators will be able to make use of it.

[TitoMorelli]

From Kimberly Strassel of the WSJ:


The IRS Scandal Started at the Top

Mr. Obama now professes shock and outrage that bureaucrats at the IRS did exactly what the president of the United States said was the right and honorable thing to do. "He put a target on our backs, and he's now going to blame the people who are shooting at us?" asks Idaho businessman and longtime Republican donor Frank VanderSloot.

Mr. VanderSloot is the Obama target who in 2011 made a sizable donation to a group supporting Mitt Romney. In April 2012, an Obama campaign website named and slurred eight Romney donors. It tarred Mr. VanderSloot as a "wealthy individual" with a "less-than-reputable record." Other donors were described as having been "on the wrong side of the law."

This was the Obama version of the phone call—put out to every government investigator (and liberal activist) in the land.

Twelve days later, a man working for a political opposition-research firm called an Idaho courthouse for Mr. VanderSloot's divorce records. In June, the IRS informed Mr. VanderSloot and his wife of an audit of two years of their taxes. In July, the Department of Labor informed him of an audit of the guest workers on his Idaho cattle ranch. In September, the IRS informed him of a second audit, of one of his businesses. Mr. VanderSloot, who had never been audited before, was subject to three in the four months after Mr. Obama teed him up for such scrutiny.

The last of these audits was only concluded in recent weeks. Not one resulted in a fine or penalty. But Mr. VanderSloot has been waiting more than 20 months for a sizable refund and estimates his legal bills are $80,000. That figure doesn't account for what the president's vilification has done to his business and reputation.

The Obama call for scrutiny wasn't a mistake; it was the president's strategy—one pursued throughout 2012. The way to limit Romney money was to intimidate donors from giving. Donate, and the president would at best tie you to Big Oil or Wall Street, at worst put your name in bold, and flag you as "less than reputable" to everyone who worked for him: the IRS, the SEC, the Justice Department. The president didn't need a telephone; he had a megaphone.

[soonerhubs]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=aPgqx51lgVc

How to give testimony as a dirty, no good, rotten son of a b:tch.

[sappstuf]

The IRS wants to know what you are praying about...

zHSp50EzJxU