As IRS admits it targeted Tea Party groups, remember IRS is Obamacare enforcer

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William A. Jacobson @ Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion:

Mark Levin and the Landmark Legal Foundation fought to expose IRS political abuses directed at Tea Party groups.

The NY Times reported at the time:

Jay Sekulow, a conservative lawyer known more for his stands on religious freedom than for his tax work, said he is representing 16 Tea Party groups that are claiming harassment by the I.R.S., and the number is growing. He said he intended to demand an explanation from the Treasury Department on Wednesday for what he called “McCarthyism” tactics and that he would contact Republican lawmakers this week.

“This is obviously a coordinated effort by the I.R.S. to stifle these Tea Party and Tea Party-affiliated groups, and to stifle free speech activities,” Mr. Sekulow said. “It’s as onerous as what they did to the N.A.A.C.P. in the 1950s, and I plan to make that point.”

Now the IRS has admitted it’s misconduct.

Via AP, IRS apologizes for targeting conservative groups:

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.

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. She did not say when they found out.

Remember, the IRS is the Obamacare mandate enforcer. What level of confidence do you have as to fair enforcement

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To make it worse, your taxes will pay for the 16,000 NEW IRS agents who will make sure you pay into obamacare, so YOU will be paying their wages to make sure you pay the obamacare tax.

You will also be paying the wages of the new hires in the 159 NEW federal agencies that will be created through obamacare. I want to hear the liberals defend that.

A long time ago I read an article about an incident that changed the way the IRS paid their agents. They used to be paid by how much they collected from tax payers. At that time the law was that if the IRS said you owed a certain amount in taxes, you had to prove you didn’t owe it, and tax payers ALWAYS lost. One incident was how a person bought something at a greatly reduced price, but the IRS taxed him on how much he SHOULD HAVE PAID for it.

One IRS agent told a couple they owed thousands of dollars that they didn’t, but this was standard procedure at the time. Remember, the agents were paid by how much they collected. The husband became so depressed over fighting the IRS for a long time that he finally figured that the only way out was for him to kill himself and his wife would get their insurance money, so he did. Things changed after that.

Likely another major charge the media will try to sweep under the rug. This administration is filled with the most vile people since Nixon.

Not that anyone remembers, but misuse of the IRS was on the bill of impeachment the House was prepared to vote out against Nixon. Will the MSM notice? Does anyone in the national media even care? Have these “reporters” ever read the Constitution? Have they even had a civics class? What is happening in this country? Is the establishment of socialism so important that the administration doing it can’t be held responsible for crimes against the people? Does the Constitution even matter anymore?

Apparently not.

@VoteOutIncumbents:

“This administration is filled with the most vile people since Nixon.”
The head of the IRS was a Bush appointee. As this mischief occured on his watch, I assume you are calling for his head?

@VoteOutIncumbents: #2
Is it safe to say that the POSSIBILITY of the congress and the white house being infiltrated doesn’t sound like such a stupid idea any more?

There were 10 areas the IRS demanded information from Tea Party organizations.
One insisted that these organizations predict the future….accurately!
See PDF letter from IRS at page three, Section three…..here:
http://c0391070.cdn2.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/pdf/irs-questions-aclj-tea-party-clients.pdf
It reads:

Provide the following information for the
income you received and raised for the
years from inception to the present.
Also, provide the same information
for the income you expect to
receive and raise for 2012, 2013, and
2014.

@George Wells:

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.

So four years after Bush left office and you still suggest that this was done on Bush’s watch?

Now this:
Pro-Israel organization Z STREET filed a lawsuit against the IRS, claiming it had been told by an IRS agent that because the organization was “connected to Israel,” its application for tax-exempt status would receive additional scrutiny. This admission was made in response to a query about the lengthy reveiw of Z STREET’s tax exempt status application.
The IRS agent told a Z STREET representative that the applications of some of those Israel-related organizations have been assigned to “a special unit in the D.C. office to determine whether the organization’s activities contradict the Administration’s public policies.”
At least one purely religious Jewish organization, one not focused on Israel, was the recipient of bizarre and highly inappropriate questions about Israel. Those questions also came from the same non-profit division of the IRS at issue for inappropriately targeting politically conservative groups. The IRS required that Jewish organization to state “whether [it] supports the existence of the land of Israel,” and also demanded the organization “[d]escribe [its] religious belief system toward the land of Israel.”

IRS Punished Conservative Non-Profits, Perhaps Also Pro-Israel Groups

#6:

“You still suggest that this was done on Bush’s watch?”
No, John, that is not what I said. The CURRENT head of the IRS was appointed to head the IRS by Goerge Bush. Obama did not replace him. He is one of yours. That was what I was pointing out, as I EXPECT you will want heads to roll. Am I wrong?

Since obama took office, the IRS now stands for Internal Redistribution Service.

Update-1:

AP Exclusive: IRS knew tea party targeted in 2011

Senior Internal Revenue Service officials knew agents were targeting tea party groups as early as 2011, according to a draft of an inspector general’s report obtained by The Associated Press that seemingly contradicts public statements by the IRS commissioner.

and:

Among the other revelations, on Aug. 4, 2011, staffers in the IRS’ Rulings and Agreements office “held a meeting with chief counsel so that everyone would have the latest information on the issue.”

On Jan, 25, 2012, the criteria for flagging suspect groups was changed to, “political action type organizations involved in limiting/expanding Government, educating on the Constitution and Bill of Rights, social economic reform/movement,” the report says.

While this was happening, several committees in Congress were writing numerous letters IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman to express concern because tea party groups were complaining of IRS harassment.

Update-2:

IRS Inquisition Update

Along with targeting tea-party groups, the IRS may also have given extra-special attention to the tax-exempt status of some Jewish groups for political reasons.

From the Jewish Press:

The passionately pro-Israel organization Z STREET filed a lawsuit against the IRS, claiming it had been told by an IRS agent that because the organization was “connected to Israel,” its application for tax-exempt status would receive additional scrutiny. This admission was made in response to a query about the lengthy reveiw of Z STREET’s tax exempt status application.

In addition, the IRS agent told a Z STREET representative that the applications of some of those Israel-related organizations have been assigned to “a special unit in the D.C. office to determine whether the organization’s activities contradict the Administration’s public policies.” . . .

Update-3:

Ways and Means to IRS: ‘Provide All Communications Containing Words ‘Tea Party,’ ‘Patriot,’ or ‘Conservative’—By Wednesday

(CNSNews.com) – The House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight has thrown down an investigative gauntlet to the Internal Revenue Service, demanding that the agency hand over by next Wednesday every communication in its records that includes the words “tea party,” “patriot” or “conservative.”

The committee is also demanding of the IRS that by next Wednesday it provide the committee with the names and titles of all individuals who were involved in targeting conservative non-profit groups for more intensive review of their applications for non-profit status.

@George Wells:

He is NOT “one of mine”, as you put it. And my misinterpretation of what you posted is due more to your inadequate language in what you posted.

Still, one could look at the situation, particularly why this person was still there, and come to the conclusion that he could have been let go a long time ago, but Obama decided to keep him. Why is this? Maybe because the person in question aligned more with Obama’s ideology than that of the right?

I’d say that even though he was initially appointed by Bush, he is still Obama’s appointee since he is still there, even though ample opportunity to remove him was present. Correct?

This is sounding more and more like a mafioso saga.

“Say, that’s a nice business you have there. Be a shame for anything to happen to it.”

Makes you wonder how many groups got the “offer they couldn’t refuse” and haven’t been heard from again.

re #11:

I pointed out that:
“The head of the IRS was a Bush appointee.” If that is “inadequate language,” what language are you speaking?

@George Wells:

No, it is this sentence which is inadequate.

As this mischief occured on his watch, I assume you are calling for his head?

It leads some readers to believe that you are discussing Bush, and not the IRS appointee. My apologies to you for misunderstanding what you meant. However, the only reason to say what you did is as an attempt at deflecting blame away from Obama. I just don’t see how you can do that when Obama had at least one, and possibly two, chances to replace him. Either he was what Obama was looking for, for that posting, or Obama couldn’t find anyone better.

:

Deflect blame from Obama? Hardly. He’s a lame duck. The House Republicans have already determined that nothing is going to get done over the next three and a half years except Benghazi inquiries and a world record number of votes to repeal Obamacare. Maybe a thousand – the sky’s the limit. I don’t know who should be more embarrassed, but then again, that’s politics.

Obama’s legacy is written in stone. The only remaining question on the political horizon is “Who will be the next president?” and the Benghazi inquiries are meant to answer that question, and none other. But then again, that’s politics.

And I can’t fault Obama for not replacing every Bush appointee with one of his own. His various appointments have been held up so regularly that I can’t fault him for letting the government grind to a halt. That’s politics.

Glad we got that straight.

Obama: “The White House must not only hold those responsible accountable for their actions, but also assure the American people that these practices are not being employed at other departments and agencies.”

But, according to law, what does it mean being held to account?
Should their pay be docked for a time?
A suspension WITH pay for a time?
Maybe they might lose chances for advancement?
But firing?
Jail?
Fines?
I doubt any of those fall under Obama’s narrow demand that those responsible be held accountable.

Breitbart has some news today.
Lois G. Lerner, IRS Director of Exempt Organizations, told an American Bar Association conference the IRS practice was initiated by low-level workers in Cincinnati and was not motivated by political bias 1. Ms. Lerner said that Agency officials found out about the practice last year and moved to correct it.

Now, a hand-signed July 7, 2011 memorandum from Steven T. Miller, IRS Acting Commissioner for Services and Enforcement, suggests that IRS management and employees understood in March 2011, just four months after the 2010 Congressional elections, that they were to suspend the examinations of gift taxes to 501(c)4 organizations until the policy towards these groups had been resolved.

The targeting of Tea Party and conservative 501(c)4 groups continued regardless–either because employees chose to ignore a direct instruction from senior management, or because they received contrary instructions from elsewhere 2.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/05/13/IRS-Warned-Employees-Not-to-Target-501-c-4-Groups-in-2011

1. She has no proof that, at some level someone was politically motivated to investigate TEA party organizations.

2. She seems to have no interest in finding out which (ignoring superior’s orders OR getting other instructions from above but from elsewhere) was the reason the Cinncinnati IRS office was continuing its practice.

Anyone seen Greg or Rich or Tom or the other resident leftists?

I’m most interested to discover how they will approach trying to defend this one.

Most interested indeed….

@Aye:
1.Dismantle the I.R.S.
2.Institute a Fair Tax.
Do it now.

@Richard Wheeler:

If we dismantle the IRS, who do we sent the “Fair Tax” to?
Fair or not, some government bureaucracy is going to grow huge and inefficient collecting all the money and going after all the dead beats. Won’t it?

@Aye: #18
I think they are finding the pan of water they have been soaking in is getting a little too hot and are thinking about jumping out.

@Richard Wheeler: #19
The writers of the Fair Tax should have named it the Federal Sales Tax and people would understand it better. For those who haven’t checked into it, here is how simple it is:

http://www.fairtax.org/site/PageServer?pagename=HowFairTaxWorks

@George Wells: #20

If we dismantle the IRS, who do we sent the “Fair Tax” to?

I’ll jump in on this one. All of the answers are at (http://www.fairtax.org/site/PageServer?pagename=HowFairTaxWorks).

You must keep in mind that the Fair Tax will REPLACE all federal taxes. No income tax forms to fill out. When you buy something, the retailer adds the Fair Tax to the amount of the sale. The prices of items, plus the tax, should be the same after the Fair Tax is enacted as before. What costs $100 before, will cost a total of $100 after. There still will be an agency who collects the money, but the retailers send in in, and there won’t be any agents coming out to audit anybody, since you pay your federal taxes each time you buy something. If your state doesn’t have an income tax, you won’t have ANY income tax forms to fill out.

Another advantage of the Fair Tax is that, since business aren’t taxed any more, they will bring their national headquarters back to the USA, and the jobs that go with them. We have the highest corporate tax rates of any country in the world. No wonder they are leaving us. Since there won’t be any taxes on ANY businesses, other countries will bring their corporate headquarters here, with their jobs.

The Fair Tax people came up with the most idiotic, crazy, stupid, moronic, but ingenious way to take care of the poor that I have ever heard. You will have to read it to find out how stupid it is, until you have time to absorb it.

@Smorgasbord:

If it will create more revenue, as some claim, that revenue has to come from someone. I am concerned that a flat tax will flip the tax, shifting a greater burden to the lower and middle class (especially the middle class,) while giving tax relief to the upper class who won’t “have” to use as much of their income on purchases, and have the option of avoiding this tax by simply spending the money overseas then have those duty-free zone goods shipped back to themselves, or even brought home on their private vessels.The other question is whether foreign trade purchases and sales will also be taxed at the same rate. (If so, the WTO would no doubt declare it a “trade Barrier” and force us to exempt all but Americans from paying the flat tax.)

You can count on the Dems to add special luxury and vice taxes onto any Flat-Tax proposal. and add more such taxes, and more, and more….

Then again, there is the possibility that the WTO might establish it’s own Global Governance Import-Export Tax.

With the way Washington D.C. works, I am highly skeptical that a flat tax will be the answer we are looking for. It would be more sensible to first reduce the size of government, reform it’s deficit spending habits and force government to live within it’s means with a real Balanced Budget Act. Then, once government spending is held in check, we can look at the best methods to fix our taxation system.

@Ditto: #24

If it will create more revenue, as some claim, that revenue has to come from someone.

With the Fair Tax, no business pays any taxes, so they can produce their products cheaper. They will have more money to expand and hire new workers. New wage earners means more people spending more money.

All of the other tax ideas focus on taxing INCOME, not spending. When you take the money directly from the wage earner, they have less to spend. Since the Fair Tax is on SPENDING instead of INCOME, the wage earner gets to keep 100% of their paycheck. How would you like to keep 100% of all of your paychecks?

Please don’t try to pick apart the Flat Tax when you haven’t read it yet. I was skeptical at first too, until I read the book. The web site is a shorter version of the book.

http://www.fairtax.org/site/PageServer?pagename=HowFairTaxWorks

With a flat tax, you only pay taxes on REPORTED income. The illegals still wouldn’t pay, and others will have a way around paying THEIR FAIR SHARE. Does the mob report their income to the IRS? They will all pay their taxes with the Fair Tax.

The wealthy will pay their fair share because they will pay the same percentage tax, but they buy more things, and higher priced things. Keep in mind that the total price of items will not change. What costs $100 before the tax will cost $100 after the tax. The tax will be on EVERYTHING. Anything you get a bill for now will have the tax on it, but the total price will be the same. This will include your water and light bill, food, medicine, and anything else you will buy. Even foreign visitors will pay the tax, but the price will remain the same.

With any other tax system, you still have the poor that are draining billions from us. As I mentioned earlier, the Fair Tax people came up with the most idiotic best way I have ever heard of to take care of the poor. Go back to the web site and look for, “Get a Tax Refund in Advance on Purchases of Basic Necessities”. Click on the small arrow on the bottom right.

They came up with a way to take care of the poor, but let them earn as much as they want without loosing any of that money. I couldn’t believe how stupid it was, until I thought it through. Our government wouldn’t have to spend one penny to help the poor. Any other tax system will still have the different welfare systems. Few people even know how many DIFFERENT welfare systems there are. A person can be getting welfare from several of them and none of them know the person is getting money from other agencies. The Fair Tax will ELIMINATE all of the welfare agencies.

The bill is in the house and senate. Neither leader likes the bill, so they won’t put it out for a vote. Anyone who has them as their representative needs to get people to ask them to put it out for a vote.

#23:

Thank you for the link regarding the “fair tax” (flat tax).
I read it, but did not find the explanation of how: “The prices of items, plus the tax, should be the same after the Fair Tax is enacted as before. What costs $100 before, will cost a total of $100 after.”
As I understood the link information, you took home your entire paycheck, and kept it all, until you decided to buy something. Then, the item you bought got assessed a sales tax of 23%. Your $100 item would cost you $123, not $100. In the scenario you presented, there would be no net cost to YOU. If that were the case, where would the government’s money come from? NOWHERE!

Once you fix that little problem, you still have a regressive problem, as Ditto points out. I’m retired, and well off enough. I already have all the toys I will ever need. Aside from the purchase of an occasional tube of toothpaste, I’ll be buying nothing, and somebody else will have to foot my share of the cost of government/military/schools/medical research/NASA/etc., etc. Even with the “prepaid tax” exemption for the poor, somebody’s going to be paying a lot more than me, and I bet it’ll be the lower-middle-class (the near-poor.)

@Ditto: Fair Tax—-definitely not Flat Tax—-thanks for the link Smorg.

@George Wells: #26

“The prices of items, plus the tax, should be the same after the Fair Tax is enacted as before. What costs $100 before, will cost a total of $100 after.”

Since business won’t be paying the average income tax of 23%, they can sell their products that much of a lower price, then the tax is added to the lower price.

Go to: http://www.fairtax.org/site/PageServer?pagename=FAQs#1

Under “General”, go to the 36th one, which is labeled, “I know the FairTax rate is 23 percent when compared to current income taxes. What will the rate of the sales tax be at the retail counter?” It answers it for you.

I already have all the toys I will ever need. Aside from the purchase of an occasional tube of toothpaste, I’ll be buying nothing, and somebody else will have to foot my share of the cost of government/military/schools/medical research/NASA/etc., etc.

To keep the Fair Tax simple and fair for everybody, there are no deductions. You are taxed on EVERYTHING YOU BUY: Food, medicine, cable TV, water, sewer, electricity, house cleaning services, repairs, etc. Keep in mind that the amount your are paying now for these will be about the same after the Fair Tax is enacted.

This is the only tax system that makes the wealthy pay their share. Right now, everything they buy is mostly taxed by the states. With the Fair Tax, they won’t pay anything on money they earn (some of them are earning billions and not paying any taxes on it), but they will be paying the tax on their $1,000,000 boat, their private jet, and the fuel and upkeep to keep them going. When they buy almost ANYTHING, they will be paying their federal taxes.

The middle class and the poor will be spending less, so they will be paying less in taxes.

There is a web site that is SUPPOSED to let you calculate your taxes both ways, but it has been down for over 2-3 years now, but says, “We apologize for any inconvenience, but we are currently updating our calculator. We’ll be back up and ready for you soon!”

Used items are not taxed. You only pay the tax on NEW items.

When political bias shows in how one does a job at IRS, they are untrustworthy to be fair later.
Lois Lerner is VERY biased ….and it shows.

Lois Lerner, the senior IRS official at the center of the decision to target tea party groups for burdensome tax scrutiny, signed paperwork granting tax-exempt status to the Barack H. Obama Foundation, a shady charity headed by the president’s half-brother that operated illegally for years. According to the organization’s filings, Lerner approved the foundation’s tax status within a month of filing, an unprecedented timeline that stands in stark contrast to conservative organizations that have been waiting for more than three years, in some cases, for approval.http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/14/irs-official-lerner-approved-exemption-for-obama-brothers-charity/

Get that?
Lerner made sure shady Obama bro got tax-free status within ONE MONTH.
Conservative organizations hang in the wind for more than 3 YEARS!
Same person.
Same request.
BIAS.
The IRS cannot be trusted with all of our medical information.