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DonCoquixote

(13,615 posts)
Mon May 13, 2013, 09:13 PM May 2013

IRS' Tea Party controversy added to Senate probe

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/05/13/levin-mccain-irs-tea-party-investigation/2156331/

Now, I humbly offer this opinion.

Do I want the IRS to be a political weapon, no?

However, there is one glaring fact that is NOT being mentioned, an Elephant in the room, two in fact.

One, under the guise of "non-profit organization", many people are carrying out political agendas,which benefit THEIR wallet! Churches in particular do this, because well they may feed the occasional child, they also use that Charity to enforce an agenda. Anywhere you see the major GOP donors, you will see that they always use those donations to push a political bend, such as the Koch brothers, who make sure student have to read Ayn Rand, and that schools have to hire a conservative professor.

Yes, I am sure the left may have some non profits that do that too, although the major left wing groups tend to fall under very intense scrutiny (a la Acorn, ala OWS.) But even beyond left or right, the whole idea of Non profit, aka (don't tax us even though we have a lot of money) has been abused. The IRS should not have to apologize for putting anyone who does not want to pay taxes under scrutiny, PERIOD.

Thom hartmann makes my point better than I can:

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/16311-on-the-news-with-thom-hartmann-the-irs-has-apologized-to-conservative-political-groups-for-singling-them-out-for-additional-review-and-more

Why is the IRS apologizing for doing their job? The Associated Press reports that the Internal Revenue Service has issued a formal apology to conservative political groups for "singling them out for additional review." According to the report, groups with the words "tea party" or "patriot" in their names were subject to extra scrutiny during their attempts to gain non-profit status. The additional reviews were conducted during the 2012 election, to verify that the groups were not violating non-profit status. Under IRS rules, so-called charitable organizations can conduct political activities, but it can not be their primary focus. Lois Lerner, who oversees the tax-exempt IRS division, said that the additional scrutiny was conducted by low-level employees only, and that it was not motivated by political bias. The fact is, any non-profit group, regardless of political affiliation, should be following the same rules on political activities. Tax payers should not be subsidizing political think tanks. The only issue here is whether only conservative groups were targeted. If politicians want taxpayers to pick up the tab for campaigning, they should give up the corporate money and move to publicly financed elections.
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IRS' Tea Party controversy added to Senate probe (Original Post) DonCoquixote May 2013 OP
IRS did their job. No prob there NightWatcher May 2013 #1
+1 Dawson Leery May 2013 #2
Was there a Senate probe into the two-year IRS scrutiny of the NAACP back in 2004? magellan May 2013 #3

magellan

(13,257 posts)
3. Was there a Senate probe into the two-year IRS scrutiny of the NAACP back in 2004?
Mon May 13, 2013, 10:00 PM
May 2013

Not that I can find.

IRS Ends 2-Year Probe Of NAACP's Tax Status

Government officials on both sides of the aisle have proved repeatedly that they can't be relied upon to bring equal force to bear on such matters. One side constantly politicizes issues while the other turns its back and remains silent until it can be seen as acting in a "bipartisan" way. It's completely eaten away my confidence in the government now.

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