IRS admits to singling out Tea Party Groups

[downtown]

This....does not look good. Democrats should probably call for some sort of investigation.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/201...l?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-thecaucus&_r=1&

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Internal Revenue Service inappropriately flagged conservative political groups for additional reviews during the 2012 election to see if they were violating their tax-exempt status, a top IRS official said Friday.
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Organizations were singled out because they included the words "tea party" or "patriot" in their applications for tax-exempt status, said Lois Lerner, who heads the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt groups.

In some cases, groups were asked for their list of donors, which violates IRS policy in most cases, she said.

"That was wrong. That was absolutely incorrect, it was insensitive and it was inappropriate. That's not how we go about selecting cases for further review," Lerner said at a conference sponsored by the American Bar Association.

"The IRS would like to apologize for that," she added.

Lerner said the practice was initiated by low-level workers in Cincinnati and was not motivated by political bias. After her talk, she told The AP that no high level IRS officials knew about the practice.

Agency officials found out about the practice last year and moved to correct it, the IRS said in a statement. The statement did not specify when officials found out.

About 75 groups were inappropriately targeted. None had their tax-exempt status revoked, Lerner said.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky called on the White House to investigate.

I'm willing to believe that this doesn't go all the way to the top, but even the threat of the IRS as a political weapon is a pretty serious allegation, and one that Tea Party groups have a right to be pissed about. What do you think?

 

[JollyRoger]

Many Tea Party types are for profiling, I don't think they would have a problem with this.

 

[Gucumatz]

The real question is:

How badly will this hurt the GOP politically?

 

[Goodfella]

Many Tea Party types are for profiling, I don't think they would have a problem with this.

Many democrats are against profiling, I think they would have a problem with this.

 

[JollyRoger]

Tea Party types tell me there are many Democrats that Tea Party, so the issue is a bit muddled.

 

[Berzerker]

i hope they fire the responsible parties

 

[JollyRoger]

It seems like now you can just slap tea party or patriot on your tax exempt group and cheat away.

 

[Arctic Daishi]

i hope they fire the responsible parties

Indeed. And I'd support firing the responsible parties, even if they were singling out Occupy Wall Street or Democrat groups as well.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

How is this a problem ? If the most defining trait of a political group/movement is opposition to government and taxation it's only logical to assume that they cheat on their taxes. Anything else would "political correctnes gone mad".

 

[JollyRoger]

Many so-called non-profits that slap tea party or patriot on their name are just trying to separate tea partiers and patriots from their money. The IRS was just trying to protect potential victims here.

 

[Loppan Torkel]

How is this a problem ? If the most defining trait of a political group/movement is opposition to government and taxation it's only logical to assume that they cheat on their taxes. Anything else would "political correctnes gone mad".

So if the police found some easily recognizable features in persons that were overrepresented in crime statistics, they should target persons with these characteristics more often? I can't see how that would go wrong..

 

[Azale]

Havn't tea party groups been guilty of this often enough to raise extra suspicions? I dunno. I think targeting them extra hard would just make tax-dodging exempters slap on some other label.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

So if the police found some easily recognizable features in persons that were overrepresented in crime statistics, they should target persons with these characteristics more often? I can't see how that would go wrong..

I see what you're trying to do, but there's a big difference between phenotype and socioeconomic status on the one hand and a political movements which clearly advertise their beliefs.

 

[JtheJackal]

Oh no conservatives are being persecuted because they are treated like everyone else.

 

[downtown]

I don't know of many Tea groups that have openly called for their followers to commit tax fraud. They might say that the income tax is unconstitutional, but that doesn't mean they don't pay it.

 

[JollyRoger]

You have not had a Tea Partier ask you do prepare their tax return.

 

[Mise]

Yeah, this is pretty damning. The IRS should just be completely apolitical...

 

[Dreadnought]

How is this a problem ? If the most defining trait of a political group/movement is opposition to government and taxation it's only logical to assume that they cheat on their taxes. Anything else would "political correctnes gone mad".

You're joking, right?

 

[JollyRoger]

Nope, just using Teahadist logic.

 

[warpus]

You know that a lot of people and organizations out there are pulling shady tax loophole tricks that may or may not be fully legit. You know that if the IRS had the resources to investigate everyone, they would, and they would find a lot of extra income.

So if you have the resources to check only a couple people or organizations, but not everybody, what criteria should you use to determine who to check? I totally agree that they shouldn't be able to go after random political groups or whatever. That includes the tea party

But if there's ever a "We ain't gonna pay no taxes" party, I would say it's cool if they review them with a bit more diligence than everyone else.. hey, it only makes sense.