The real IRS scandal

[Ulaven_Demorte]

"It’s strange how ‘scandal’ gets defined these days in Washington. At the moment, everyone is screaming about the ‘scandal’ of the Internal Revenue Service scrutinizing conservative nonprofits before granting them tax-exempt status.

"Here are the genuine scandals in this affair: Political organizations are being allowed to masquerade as charities to avoid taxes and keep their donors secret, and the IRS has allowed them to do this for years.

"The bottom line first: The IRS hasn’t done nearly enough over the years to rein in the subversion of the tax law by political groups claiming a tax exemption that is not legally permitted for campaign activity. Nor has it enforced rules requiring that donors to those groups pay gift tax on their donations."

- Michael Hiltzik, the economic columnist of the Los Angeles Times

He's correct, they should be doing MORE, not less, scrutinizing of these tax exempt applications. Those who are found to be blatantly lying on their applications should be prosecuted.

 

[ChinaBandit]

"It’s strange how ‘scandal’ gets defined these days in Washington. At the moment, everyone is screaming about the ‘scandal’ of the Internal Revenue Service scrutinizing conservative nonprofits before granting them tax-exempt status.

"Here are the genuine scandals in this affair: Political organizations are being allowed to masquerade as charities to avoid taxes and keep their donors secret, and the IRS has allowed them to do this for years.

"The bottom line first: The IRS hasn’t done nearly enough over the years to rein in the subversion of the tax law by political groups claiming a tax exemption that is not legally permitted for campaign activity. Nor has it enforced rules requiring that donors to those groups pay gift tax on their donations."

- Michael Hiltzik, the economic columnist of the Los Angeles Times

He's correct, they should be doing MORE, not less, scrutinizing of these tax exempt applications. Those who are found to be blatantly lying on their applications should be prosecuted.

So, your point is the IRS fucks up in multiple ways. Thanks. We know. We also know the person currently sitting in the oval office isn't on top of any of it.

 

[BoyNextDoor]

You bring up a good point about something I was also wondering - were any 501(c)4 applications denied as a part of the added scrutiny?

 

[mercury14]

You bring up a good point about something I was also wondering - were any 501(c)4 applications denied as a part of the added scrutiny?

No, zero were denied.

 

[dan_c00000]

The thing that's great about this IRS stuff is that you've got a group of people proclaiming loudly they'd rather not pay taxes forming tax free political organizations. These people are heavily funded by goons like the Koch brothers who hate paying taxes.

Now compare/contrast that with how the GOP feels about Muslims. They need to be watched 24/7, get scapegoated and blamed, accused of horrible things, and the right has no problem denying them basic freedoms -for example, where they can build a community center.

It's a typical case of right wing brain. How dare you go after people who are clearly doing something fishy (teatards)! all the while bitching about how those evil Muslims are plotting against us (despite having no proof and violating tons of Constitutional rights).

Of course let's not forget that the guy running the IRS was a Bush appointment and the reports coming out show mismanagement. Which if you remember Katrina, Iraq, and TARP sounds like a typical Bush project.

 

[ChinaBandit]

How, to quote, are the "teatards clearly doing something fishy"?

You can prove that OR just want to think it in goose step.

 

[mercury14]

How, to quote, are the "teatards clearly doing something fishy"?

You can prove that OR just want to think it in goose step.

~300 Tea Party groups stood up and said they're not really political and therefore they should get special tax-free status and not have to disclose their donors. Because their donors aren't making political contributions that would impact politics. Does that strike you as maybe a little fishy?

 

[ChinaBandit]

~300 Tea Party groups stood up and said they're not really political and therefore they should get special tax-free status and not have to disclose their donors. Because their donors aren't making political contributions that would impact politics. Does that strike you as maybe a little fishy?

Did they get tax free status or not?

If they did it's not fishy. If they were declined, fine. Is that breaking the law?

Also, the next time the Tea Party sets off a bomb at a public event I'll be the first to ask for more scrutiny.

 

[KingOrfeo]

Did they get tax free status or not?

If they did it's not fishy. If they were declined, fine. Is that breaking the law?

No; but it is still fishy.

 

[ChinaBandit]

No; but it is still fishy.

Tax avoidance isn't illegal. Tax evasion is.

 

[KingOrfeo]

Tax avoidance isn't illegal. Tax evasion is.

Something can be fishy without being illegal.

 

[BusyAfternoon]

Another IRS scandal.

Make sure you pay your taxes, 2 million illegals and people not even living here, need your money.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3eQZoXAU7X0

 

[Ulaven_Demorte]

No, zero were denied.

Actually, one was denied. For a liberal group called Emerge America. None of the conservative groups were denied, although they may have extended the amount of time they were under scrutiny by refusing to cooperate with an investigation into their eligibility.

 

[mercury14]

Did they get tax free status or not?

If they did it's not fishy. If they were declined, fine. Is that breaking the law?

Also, the next time the Tea Party sets off a bomb at a public event I'll be the first to ask for more scrutiny.

No, it's a bunch of crap. Fishy is a mild word for it. Tea Party groups that spring up right before an election are not non-political in nature, they're political and therefore they should have to reveal their donors and be subject to taxes and whatever else is appropriate. If you read the regulations for (c)4 groups they were set up as local community and labor social organizing structures, not for Tea Party national election campaigns.

The IRS thing needs to be fixed though because until we get better laws in this country we need to make sure the bullshit is evenly distributed across the political spectrum. The sad thing is that it may require a constitutional amendment to fix this bullshittery and since Mitch McConnell openly praised Citizens United I doubt that will happen anytime soon.

 

[mercury14]

Actually, one was denied. For a liberal group called Emerge America. None of the conservative groups were denied, although they may have extended the amount of time they were under scrutiny by refusing to cooperate with an investigation into their eligibility.

Apparently only 30% of the reviewed applications were Tea Party ones....

 

[ChinaBandit]

So, one LIBERAL group was denied. Emerge America was obviously up to something fishy.

 

[mercury14]

So, one LIBERAL group was denied. Emerge America was obviously up to something fishy.

They were all up to something fishy. Emerge America simply evolved from "getting socially aware women into office" to "getting socially aware Democratic women into office" so they had their status revoked. They seemed to expect it and they're still going strong.

Not all actually. Many of these groups are using the law as intended. They're getting STD awareness into at-risk communities, digging wells in Appalachia, etc. There was some conservative outcry as to by Obama's brother's (c4) PAC didn't get pegged as political... Even though all the organization did was help improve disease prevention in Kenya.

 

[ChinaBandit]

So is Mitch McConnell. Another reason the Commonwealth of Kentucky is superior to the state of Ohio.

Have a great day!

I'm going to enjoy my evening.

 

[unregistered]

 

[RobDownSouth]

Actually asshole, dozens of conservative organizations were denied long enough to keep out of the election process. That's all it takes. So shut the fuck up with that bullshit.

That your organizations couldn't function without their precious tax exempt status says volumes as to how much people valued their ideas.

 

[richard_daily]

That your organizations couldn't function without their precious tax exempt status says volumes as to how much people valued their ideas.

"out of the election process"... hmm, that seems to infer that they were political in nature...

 

[Busybody]

That your organizations couldn't function without their precious tax exempt status says volumes as to how much people valued their ideas.

Is OFA


Media Matters

Etc etc etc

Tax exempt?

 

[unregistered]

 

[RobDownSouth]

"out of the election process"... hmm, that seems to infer that they were political in nature...

That's unpossible! They swore to the IRS they were strictly non-political! They even pinky-swore.

 

[richard_daily]

That's unpossible! They swore to the IRS they were strictly non-political! They even pinky-swore.

You know that something's obvious when even veteman can see it.