Tea Party Rejects IRS Apology, Republicans Vow Investigation

[cali]

Conservative groups have rejected an Internal Revenue Service apology for unjustifiably scrutinizing tax-exempt conservative groups during the 2012 election cycle. The IRS apology has seemingly validated conservatives' fears of politically motivated regulation.

House Republican leaders, meanwhile, have vowed to investigate.

Lois Lerner, the director the IRS unit that oversees tax-exempt organizations, said that organizations had been given additional scrutiny if their applications included the words "Tea Party" or "patriot." The practice originated with "low-level" employees in Cincinnati, according to an Associated Press report.

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http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/irs-admits-targeting-conservative-groups/story?id=19151646#.UY2Mb0qsp7l

[Initech]

1. The Tea Party should be scrutinized. They're backed by traitor billionaires with a treasonous agenda

[JaneyVee]

2. Hmm. IRS scrutinizes conservative non-profits vs. Bush wiretapping anti-war protestors.

[zbdent]

9. GEORGE W. BUSH appointee ...

worked for the FEC until 2001.

From 2005 elevation:

http://www.irs.gov/uac/Lois-G.-Lerner-Selected-as-Director-of-IRS-Exempt-Organizations-Division

[ProSense]

3. This should

"Tea Party Rejects IRS Apology, Republicans Vow Investigation"

...be investigated. I'm glad these wingnuts rejected the apology. I can't wait to find out more about their activities.

Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) Pledges Investigation Into IRS

Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), chair of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, is pledging to dig into IRS practices after the agency revealed that employeers in a Cincinatti, Ohio office had inappropriately targeted conservative non-profits for additional review.

“My subcommittee has been investigating the IRS’s failure to enforce the law requiring that tax-exempt 501(c)4s be engaged exclusively in social welfare activities, not partisan politics," Levin said in a statement on Friday. "Today’s announcement by the IRS raises a second issue: whether the IRS, to the extent it has enforced its rules, has been impartial in doing so. Both issues require investigation.”

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/sen-carl-levin-d-mi-pledges-investigation-into

[zbdent]

10. They need to make sure they know how to phrase this correctly so that the "liberally-biased media"

kisses their asses ...

if the "l.b.m." would do the job right, it would be revealed that the person running the dept. which investigates this was a BUSH appointee ...

See above post.

[Swamp Lover]

4. I thought that the Right Wing was in favor of profiling.....

Who better to audit than organizations that are formed on the premise that taxes are bad and should be avoided? (Ever notice how most right wing radio shows are sponsored by tax forgiveness negotiation companies?)

But, I guess since they are practically all white, profiling is bad.

[mick063]

5. What is sickening

The folks that destroyed our economy in 2008 are back to doing the same things. This is why I don't pay attention to "investigations".

The House of Rep. parades one investigation after another, but they are pretty damn selective about what they investigate. Apparently, Benghazi is much more significant than tanking our economy. Now the FBI is targeting conservative groups. Taking into the account the relative importance compared to what the financial institutions did to us in 2008, I would say their priorities are fairly lame. I could care less if the FBI is investigating anything other than the Robber Barons that stole our nation's wealth. I have a different set of priorities.

[ProSense]

6. Here's a good tidbit:

"The IRS, as you know, is an independent enforcement agency, with only two political appointees. The fact of the matter is what we know about this is of concern, and we certainly find the actions taken as reported to be inappropriate, and we would fully expect the investigation to be thorough and for corrections to be made," Carney said.

Carney pointed out that the IRS commissioner in 2012, Douglas Shulman, was appointed by President George W. Bush. Asked when the White House became aware of the extra reviews, Carney referred questions to the IRS.

Douglas H. Shulman (born 1967) was the U.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue. His nomination was confirmed by the full U.S. Senate on March 14, 2008[1] and he was sworn in on March 24, 2008.[2] He formerly served as vice chairman of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) (successor to NASD) and sat on the board at the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC).[3]

<...>

On November 11, 2012, Shulman finished his term as Commissioner.[7][8][9]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Shulman

[Bjorn Against]

7. How the hell is the Tea Party tax exempt anyways?

My understanding is that only non-partisan organizations could claim tax exempt status. Granted the definition of non-partisan is pretty broad, but I still can't imagine how the Tea Party could be classified as non-partisan.

[Mr. David]

8. Very well, IRS - full steam ahead, full investigation and audit of each single Tea Party member

and check to see if they have back taxes or unpaid taxes.

Then fine them quadruple the amount of backtaxes plus time in prison. USP style, not FCI.

[jmowreader]

11. The article proves the scrutiny is highly warranted

"Groups with a 501(C)4 designation cannot use more than half their resources for electioneering activities."

Since many tea party groups do nothing but electioneering, the IRS is more than justified in crawling way up them and looking VERY closely.

When a group has a history of electioneering and political extremism, and not much of a history of doing anything else, they shouldn't scream too loudly when the IRS does what it is there to do. The abuse of tax-exempt status is one of the reasons this country is screwed up.