IRS apologizes for targeting conservative groups
Source: Associated Press
The Internal Revenue Service is apologizing for inappropriately flagging conservative political groups for additional reviews during the 2012 election to see if they were violating their tax-exempt status.
Lois Lerner, who heads the IRS unit that oversees tax-exempt groups, said organizations that included the words "tea party" or "patriot" in their applications for tax-exempt status were singled out for additional reviews.
Lerner said the practice, initiated by low-level workers in Cincinnati, was wrong and she apologized while speaking at a conference in Washington.
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/irs-apologizes-targeting-conservative-groups
TheDebbieDee
(11,119 posts)look at suspected tax cheats? That's what they're supposed to do!
hughee99
(16,113 posts)premium
(3,731 posts)or Planned Parenthood, would you still be saying the same thing?
Targeting a certain political belief, whether liberal or conservative, is plain wrong and shouldn't be tolerated.
BTW, no where in the story did they say that the investigations had anything to do with tax cheats.
Did you even bother to read the story?
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)But they should not be targeting any groups or individuals based on ideas.
premium
(3,731 posts)did target liberal org., but I agree with you, targeting a group or org. because of their political beliefs is just plain wrong and stinks to high heaven of McCarthyism.
russspeakeasy
(6,539 posts)Yo_Mama
(8,303 posts)If some IRS office routinely did this to NAACP chapters, or local Democratic-associated groups, or all Jewish charitable/religious groups, I would hope you would perceive that it was a wrongful exercise of governmental authority.
It is not as if the IRS hasn't been used politically before, and it is something that we should always protest against.
OnyxCollie
(9,958 posts)must not be deprived of their "right" to substitute taxable issue advertising for tax-exempt image advertising at no cost.
Please accept our apologies!
hobbit709
(41,694 posts)Oh no, we can't be offending the opposition, they might not like it.
former9thward
(31,805 posts)That was one of the impeachment counts brought against Nixon.
hobbit709
(41,694 posts)If they looked at all groups equally
niyad
(112,435 posts)blackspade
(10,056 posts)So where is the apology for targeting 'left' leaning groups?
Chirp, Chirp.....
former9thward
(31,805 posts)I have never seen a group say that it was being targeted.
blackspade
(10,056 posts)Feel free to google for more:
http://www.randomlengthsnews.com/archive/godnov23.html
There are more but I think you are capable of finding them if you are interested.
former9thward
(31,805 posts)To make your claim that the left is being targeted by the IRS? Yeah that really proves it....
blackspade
(10,056 posts)If you can't be bothered to look into it yourself, then that is your problem.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)I bet most are fronts for the RW wealthy so they can "donate" to their personal Gov. hate-fest- and get a huge tax deducation for donating to a "charity". And get their buddies and the little minions huge paychecks with great benefits.
Dollface
(1,590 posts)They say they're providing information to the public but it is blatant propaganda. The groups being investigated are more like lobbying groups and donations to them should not be tax deductible.
russspeakeasy
(6,539 posts)Psephos
(8,032 posts)JEB
(4,748 posts)is a money grubbing enterprise. The remaining portion is bowel movement.
Dollface
(1,590 posts)Also, they didn't look only at reich-wing organizations. It just seemed that way because there are so many more of them than normal-wing organizations.
sofa king
(10,857 posts)The article does not say whether charges were levied or subsequently dropped. The article does not say that the inquiries yielded no evidence of wrongdoing. The article does not mention Karl Rove's Virginia-based groups which are currently defending themselves from FEC ethics complaints.
I wonder why an article like this would fail to answer such important and obvious questions?
Kolesar
(31,182 posts)forestpath
(3,102 posts)Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)the right wing's byzantine system of collecting/funneling/washing/dispersing perfectly "legal" campaign and PAC funds; so the RW shadow groups make a call to their minions in congress to tell the IRS to drop it and apologize or else...
kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)That would be the teabaggers, libertarians, and probably most republicans these days.
They are, after all, more likely to cheat - because they feel taxes are evil.
Seeking Serenity
(2,838 posts)kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)Time for the shoe to be on the other foot.
NutmegYankee
(16,178 posts)kona808
(41 posts)The NYTimes endorsed this practice last year so there should be no need for the IRS to apologize!
Such I.R.S. inquiries are long overdue and should be applied across the board to the growing number of organizations, allied with the major political parties, that are also ludicrously posing as social welfare groups. Legitimate social welfare organizations are allowed limited political activity. But these political offshoots are using that tax status in a transparent ploy to keep big donors secret while funneling the money to campaigns. Chief among these groups are American Crossroads, the campaign machine created by Republican guru Karl Rove, and Priorities USA, the Democratic counterpart founded by former White House aides, now openly encouraged by President Obama as he runs for re-election.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/08/opinion/the-irs-does-its-job.html?_r=1&
If you have nothing to hide you have no reason to complain.
kona808
(41 posts)KamaAina
(78,249 posts)davidn3600
(6,342 posts)If they are targeting ONLY one side, that looks like political intimidation...something you usually find pretty common in dictatorships and corrupt regimes.
We accuse and bash Putin in Russia of such practices. If we are doing the same thing here, we look like hypocrites.
Jake Izzy
(130 posts)From the link provided in OP: "In some cases, groups were asked for their list of donors, which violates IRS policy in most cases, she said."
Is the request for a list of donors a violation of IRS policy in this case? It's worthless to know that this is a violation in "most cases" if we are not told whether there is a violation in the case being discussed. What a poorly written news article.
moondust
(19,917 posts)Dear NBC: Cutting away to Rush Limbaugh making his usual wild, conspiratorial accusations does not help your credibility as a news organization.