IRS so called scandal

George Will said on ABC's This Week "A Tennessee group was told your entitlement to this status was contingent upon telling us the names of the high school and college students that you trained to participate in politics." The status that Mr. Will has his undies in a twist over is the nonprofit apolitical 501c4 organizations having their tax exempt status being delayed. If the Tennessee organization had nothing to hide, they could have sought out a 527 status and avoided the delay, instead decided to avoid contributors disclosures and obfuscate where their money is coming from denying the American public their right to know who is attempting to persuade public policy. 

There is a common theme in the conservatives' response across internet forums and social media, that liberals would not stand for the same actions if IRS used the same scrutiny on liberal nonprofits. No one needs to imagine what would occur if a Republican administration used the IRS to harass and audit liberal nonprofits; since it occurred under Bush against the NAACP, Planned Parenthood, and others. The right-wing complains about delays in being granted tax-exempt status; what conservative organization was denied 501c4 status? I can tell you which progressive organization was denied, Emerge America as they transformed their 527 organizations to 501c4 was denied the only benefit of avoiding to disclosing their contributors. The Tea Party and Patriot movement creating nonprofit organizations explicitly for politically purposes were still able to retain financial contributors anonymity despite that is neither the letter of the law or the spirit of the law to grant the status to such poltical organizations.

Much can be understood by the modus operandi, if tax-exempt 501c4 organizations intended for apolitical purposes to promote the general welfare in comparison to tax-exempt 527 organizations intended for purely political purposes, then the reason for political organizations seeking out 501c4 does so for the only distinction between 527 an 501c4: not disclosing political contributions.


Stephen Colbert famously and poignantly mocked the tax statuses of Super PACs and their deceiptive partners in crime by creating Colbert Super PAC and 501c4 Colbert Super PAC SHH! to hide who contributed to the his fund. Unlike the Tea Party and Patriot movement 501c4, Stephen Colbert actually had apolitical purposes  to educate and entertain the public about the absurdity of the campaign finance and the tax code.

http://www.salon.com/2013/05/14/when_the_irs_targeted_liberals/

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/21/business/advocacy-groups-denied-tax-exempt-status-are-named.html?_r=0

Tea Party is making satirists jobs that much easier.

Ironic that the Tea Partiers' non-profit 501c4 organizations are illegal if used for political purposes seem to escape the mainstream media's attention. So why are political conservatives complaining that in there attempt to get tax-exempt status for their evidently purely political organizations that were under extensive scrutiny? They still erroneously received tax-exempt status and proceeded to use the status for purely political purpose.

Tea Party groups kvetching that the IRS granting tax-exempt status for purely political intended organizations took to long and and were politically motivated is akin to a bank robber complaining that the bank cashier is taking too long while he/she is cordially handing over all the money, even offering immunity for the crime that is being committed. Hypothetical bank robber's response: "How dare this bank teller after offering me immunity slow my roll!"

IRS taking a double look at conservatives who oppose paying taxes-- is like Child Services taking a double look at NAMBLA

Last week it was discovered that the IRS performed extra scrutiny on 25% of the 501c4 non-profit organizations if they had "tea party", "patriot", or other conservative identifier within their name; the double check was limited to the Cincinnati regional IRS office. This extra scrutiny was in response to the Citizen United decision that allowed Super PACs and the follow up of the 501c4 to hide the contributors from the public. It doesn’t come to anyone’s surprise that a burst of newly formed tax-free organizations created with the patina of tax avoidance should come under closer examination by the agency that is responsible for regulating such organizations. This is in comparison to pacifists and non-violent activists coming under extra scrutiny of the FBI from 2001 to 2006, under the premise that they were dangerous to the security of the nation.

The facetious shock that the right wing pundits responds to this story comes from the same mindset that believes if government revenues can be shrunk small enough then the government can be small enough to be drowned in a bath tub. So those organizations that are advocating against taxes altogether warrant the double check by the IRS.

"Just imagine, Donna Brazile, if you will that the George W. Bush administration had IRS underlings saying we are going to target organizations with the word 'progressive' in their name, we would have all hell breaking loose."
-George Will on ABC's This Week

The kabuki that is being slung by conservative pundits regarding this story wholly ignores the recent history, and the administration’s defense is devoid of assertiveness (no surprise there).

http://abcnews.go.com/News/Blotter/fbi-spied-peta-greenpeace-anti-war-activists/story?id=11682844#.UZI7OrXF-So