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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe IRS Tea Party Scandal, Explained--Mother Jones
If like me you haven't had time to keep up with the details of IRS scandal, Mother Jones provides an overview.
Speaking to a group of tax lawyers, the IRS official, Lois Lerner, who oversees the agency's exempt organizations division, publicly apologized for the IRS's actions. Ever since, Democratic and Republican politicians have been falling over themselves to condemn the IRS. President Obama said that, if the allegations are true, "there's no place" for such behavior. Members of Congress have pledged to investigate any potential wrongdoing and grill the agency's leaders. "Heads need to roll" if the IRS unfairly targeted tea partiers and other conservatives, said Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.).
Here's a primer on what you need to know about the IRS scandal.
How did this get started? It began back in March 2010, when the tea party movement was all the rage. According to a leaked timeline (PDF) from a draft report by the Treasury inspector general for tax administration, IRS staffers began flagging applications from groups with politically themed names like "We the People" and "Take Back the Country." Staffers also targeted groups whose names included the words "tea party" and "patriots." Those flagged applications were then sent to specialists for a more rigorous review than is typical.
The IRS gave extra scrutiny to 298 groups applying for tax-exempt status, the Washington Post reported. Seventy-two of those groups had "tea party" in their title, 13 had "patriots," and 11 had "9/12," shorthand for the 9/12 movement started by conservative TV host Glenn Beck.
But IRS officials not only singled out tea party and liberty groups. They also looked for "political action type organizations involved in limiting/expanding government, educating on the Constitution and Bill of Rights, social economic reform/movement," according to the leaked timeline. This included groups that planned to focus on government debt and spending, taxes, or those trying to "make America a better place to live." In June 2011, Lerner reportedly became aware of what was going on and directed staffers to change to how they vetted nonprofit applications.
More at: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/05/irs-tea-party-scandal-congress-nonprofit-obama
niyad
(113,628 posts)liberals, pro-peace groups, etc? don't recall hearing them screaming during the bushco years.
BainsBane
(53,093 posts)but likewise many Democrats are reacting very differently than if the IRS had targeted liberal groups under a Republican administration. I understand that most of the new groups probably were Tea Party types, but the IRS should select randomly or according to some non-political criteria.
rdharma
(6,057 posts)BainsBane
(53,093 posts)Can you explain it?
BainsBane
(53,093 posts)as a way of the IRS distracting tea baggers for a rectal exam.
rdharma
(6,057 posts)Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)Campaigning for lower taxes is perfectly legal, and we have all seen the "Taxed Enough Already" signs. But signs like "We Won't Pay" suggesting that they are contemplating breaking the law would be quite another thing. I wonder if this is for real, or a figment of the cartoonist's imagination.
rdharma
(6,057 posts)Do you think they should qualify?
Cha
(297,809 posts)Cha
(297,809 posts)did wrong.
But Steven Miller got fired.
thanks again Bains
BainsBane
(53,093 posts)indicating right wing affiliation. They therefore targeted tea party groups rather than acting from a non-partisan standpoint.
Cha
(297,809 posts)be noticed by their name.
I know.. bad of me, too.
BainsBane
(53,093 posts)I think how I would feel if these were liberal groups being investigated under a Republican administration. The IRS really needs to act as a rational and impartial bureaucracy if it is to function properly. The other problem with this scandal is it is going to make it more difficult to cut off tax exemptions for those political groups like Rove's Crossroads GPS that pose as non-profits.
rdharma
(6,057 posts)During the Bush administration in 2004?
but that doesn't make this right. The IRS's using political criteria is wrong regardless. Also it makes it more difficult to challenge the swarm of political groups claiming tax exemption.
rdharma
(6,057 posts)And not have to disclose their donors to the public?
You don't feel that the IRS should look into their operations?
BainsBane
(53,093 posts)but it should apply to all political groups like that, not just right wing ones.
hfojvt
(37,573 posts)is why did all these people suddenly decide "hey, I am gonna start a 501c4 so I can save this country".
Is that where I have gone wrong? I should have started a 501c4 called, let's say "End Austerity and Reaganomics Now" or EARN, for short. And having done that, the money would start flowing in from rich liberals like George Soros and Bill Gates Sr. and Bill Maher. And I could make a nice $40,000 a year salary off of my non-profit and just spend my days writing fund-raising letters and emailing screeds against the Bush tax cuts (which I have been writing anyway, to an audience of about 4 on DU).
I bet it is hard to get rich donors though when your raison d'etre is to raise their taxes.
sofa king
(10,857 posts)Now if only I had a shitload of money.
hfojvt
(37,573 posts)All I really need is a mere $100 from each of my 1,000 facebook friends.
Okay, first I need another 895 facebook friends.
Details, details, details.
BainsBane
(53,093 posts)and you still won't get close to what Rove took from Crossroads for himself.
hfojvt
(37,573 posts)these other groups might not be rolling in that kind of dough.
But on the other hand, does anybody know what Jim Dean and Russ Feingold make from THEIR organizations?
I mean, as a former monthly donor to DFA, I never bothered to ask. Now I wonder. And many people would not consider an $80,000 a year salary to be a big deal.
But it was only about $10 a month. And other times I donated directly to candidates like to Ed Fallon against DINO Leonard Boswell (a loss) and to Sherrod Brown (a win). But that may have gone through DFA as well and they may have taken a cut.