New Records: IRS Targeted Progressive Groups More Extensively Than Tea Party

[Triana]

A series of IRS documents, provided to ThinkProgress under the Freedom of Information Act, appears to contradict the claims by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and his House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that only Tea Party organizations applying for tax-exempt status “received systematic scrutiny because of their political beliefs.” The 22 “Be On the Look Out” keywords lists, distributed to staff reviewing applications between August 12, 2010 and April 19, 2013, included more explicit references to progressive groups, ACORN successors, and medical marijuana organizations than to Tea Party entities.



The IRS provided the heavily-redacted lists to ThinkProgress, after nearly a year-long search. From the earliest lists through 2012, the “historical” section of the lists encouraged reviewers to watch out for “progressive” groups with names like “blue,” as their requests for 501(c)(3) charitable status might be inappropriate. Their inclusion in this section suggests that the concern predates the initial 2010 list.

Explicit references to “Tea Party,” included in the “emerging issues” section of the lists, also began in August 2010 — but stopped appearing after the May 10, 2011 list. From that point on, the lists instructed agents to flag all political advocacy groups of any stripe. The documents instructed the agents to forward any “organization involved with political, lobbying, or advocacy” applying for 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) status be forwarded to “group 7822″ for additional review. Groups under both categories are limited in the amount of of lobbying and political activity each can undertake.

Other types of groups received explicit scrutiny for longer than “progressive” or “Tea Party” organizations. These included applicants involved with “medical marijuana” but not “exclusively education” (19 appearances in the “watch list” section of the lists), which were to be forwarded to a “group 7888″ and groups believed to be possible successor-groups to ACORN, the now-shuttered Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (12 appearances on the “watch list” section). Those applications were also to be elevated to managers for further review. All 22 documents also flagged applicants with Puerto Rico addresses and certain types of “Testamentary Trusts.”

THE REST:

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2014/04/23/3429722/irs-records-tea-party/

[cynzke]

1. Political Activity...

I believe is not allowed at all for 501(c)3's so it would be entirely appropriate to target any group that has a political name. But further in regards to 501(c)4's, within the IRS regulations, it states that pending FINAL APPROVAL for tax-exempt status, the IRS treats the applicants as a tax-exempt group. They are TOTALLY FREE to operate as such. But once a year, like all groups, they have to file a TAX EXEMPT report/tax return with the IRS. What ever that date is (April 15th?) if the FINAL APPROVAL is still PENDING, these groups won't be taxed on their finances, HOWEVER, they do have to provide a PUBLIC DISCLOSURE of their donations. These groups CAN'T keep those a secret. AND THAT IS WHAT THE FUSS IS REALLY ABOUT. These groups were never DENIED TAX EXEMPTION while the IRS examined/delayed their applications, as many on the right would have you believe. The only thing they were denied in the delay was PRIVACY. The right wing would have you believe these groups were stifled and that was total BS.