Throughout all the hue and cry about the supposed persecution of some Tea Party groups in applying for tax exempt status, I see that the commentator Greg gets it-often he is the voice of reason and this is no exception.
1) Did any of these groups get denied their 501c4 status?
"If not then jumping through a few extra hoops hardly seems a real impediment."
2) Were these groups still able to collect and spend their money as they saw fit as this "determination of C4 status" was occurring?
"If so then again, BFD, you got your exemption, you weren't hindered in spending and collecting as you please. You were simply looked at very closely...... which is what I expect the IRS to do when dealing with these tax exempt loopholes."
3) Were you guys the only ones who had to go through this?
"My sense is that there were a lot of "new" applications, especially from these right wing groups the last 4 years, so new groups will be investigated closer than ones that have already been established. I understand that their status is looked at regularly to be sure they are still doing things the right way to maintain C4 status."
"My guess is that the answers are 1) No 2) Yes and 3) No so its really another non issue issue, the specialty of our modern Republicans.."
"I'll tell ya Im really close to wanting to leave this country. These guys are nothing but bullies and they will be in charge for quite a while."
1) Did any of these groups get denied their 501c4 status?
"If not then jumping through a few extra hoops hardly seems a real impediment."
2) Were these groups still able to collect and spend their money as they saw fit as this "determination of C4 status" was occurring?
"If so then again, BFD, you got your exemption, you weren't hindered in spending and collecting as you please. You were simply looked at very closely...... which is what I expect the IRS to do when dealing with these tax exempt loopholes."
3) Were you guys the only ones who had to go through this?
"My sense is that there were a lot of "new" applications, especially from these right wing groups the last 4 years, so new groups will be investigated closer than ones that have already been established. I understand that their status is looked at regularly to be sure they are still doing things the right way to maintain C4 status."
"My guess is that the answers are 1) No 2) Yes and 3) No so its really another non issue issue, the specialty of our modern Republicans.."
"I'll tell ya Im really close to wanting to leave this country. These guys are nothing but bullies and they will be in charge for quite a while."
I hope Greg doesn't leave as while I understand his frustration, he's one of the few around who have a clue. I think that point 1 in particular is not at all appreciated. No one is claiming that the Tea Party groups didn't get their 501c4 status just that they had to go through a little more red tape. So what? Do you believe that they would worry about MoveOn.org having to go through this?
As Greg suggests, no one has shown that they were the only group that went through this. Are they represented more than their proportional numbers? It might well be that many of these groups are particularly aggressive in trying to secure tax exempt status for themselves. Many of these Far Right groups think that taxes are theft anyway, particularly taxes for the rich. Is it so outrageous to imagine that many of them have no problem trying to bend the rules in their favor?
The question really begs, in any case: why should we Americans have to bankroll the political activities of Tea Party groups? Consider what's really at stake here:
"Imagine for a moment: You work at an Internal Revenue Service back office in the Midwest. No, you are not in a posthumously published David Foster Wallace novel. You are in the Cincinnati office, which is charged with vetting applications for 501(c)(4) status, which allows groups not only to avoid paying any taxes on the money they collect but also to keep their donors secret. This status is intended for organizations that, unlike charity-focused 501(c)(3)’s, intend to engage in some advocacy or lobbying on a particular issue related to their mission. But under IRS rules, this advocacy must be for the general “social welfare”—and not geared toward political elections. Courts have granted some leeway in this regard, saying that groups are allowed to engage in some election activity as long as it is “insubstantial.” The IRS has allowed this gray area to expand to the point where groups must have a “primarily” social welfare mission, which many groups have happily taken to mean that elections can consume up to 49.999 percent of their resources."
"You are in your cubicle in Cincinnati, and your office is suddenly swamped with a surge in applications—rising from 1,500 to 3,400 the past few years. This surge is driven by two factors. One is the series of court rulings, such as the Supreme Court’sCitizens United decision, that encourage political operatives to use 501(c)(4)’s as a way to funnel huge undisclosed donations into television ads, regardless of the IRS rules for the groups. The other is the swell in grassroots activism that is coming almost entirely from the right thanks to post-2008 tea party ferment."
Of course, this is not what you'll be hearing from Issa and friends. McConnell has already taken a total leap and claims that it proves they've been right about Obama from the start:
"This is no little thing,” McConnell told Breitbart News on Monday. “This is a big thing. The good news about it is they finally got caught. They finally messed with an agency everybody fully understands. When they try to quiet the critics through other agencies, it doesn’t get attention. This does. Everybody understands the IRS and how powerful they are. This is just one example of an administration-wide effort to silence critics.”
Note how far ahead McConnell has jumped: there has not been a shred of evidence linking this to the Obama White House. Meanwhile, there is a pretty good explanation of what actually happened:
"Yes, the IRS employees in Cincinnati, looking for shortcuts to process the wave of applications, used conservative-themed catchwords to filter for groups that were perhaps too election-focused to merit 501(c)(4) status. But there is a plausible explanation for this: Most of the campaign-minded applications they were getting were conservative! This is a credit to the tea party movement, which for a while was generating levels of grassroots activism that the left could only envy. Why did the IRS not screen for “corporate greed” or “plutocracy” or “inequality”? Well, maybe because those words would have netted precious few applications to scrutinize."
"Not to mention that the applications from tea party groups demanded special attention for another reason: These groups were proudly political! Even if you take at face value the movement’s initial claim to be something all its own, something more than just the conservative wing of the Republican Party, its whole purpose from the get-go was to orient American politics and government toward its constitutional roots by intervening in elections at all levels, starting with Republican Party primaries. The tea party groups’ whole mission called their suitability for 501(c)(4) status into question."
Yet, based on the strength of this case against Obama-ie, nothing; there is no link between the IRS 501c4 issue and the President-and the faux outrage over Benghazi, Michael Tomasky thinks the GOP is going to try to impeach Obama; this was before the AP press story even broke.
A few things to bear in mind on the IRS scandal.
1). There is no whatsoever to the President. McConnell and company are taking gross license.
2). There really was a need to increase scrutiny of 6501(c)(4) applications. The staffers in Ohio may not have used the best method but it was legitimate. How many of these Tea Party groups truly had no election activities? That Karl Rove and others like him didn't get more scrutiny is a real problem rather than these crazy, baseless claims of McConnell.
The only question to answer is where to go to avoid this economic plan of the neoliberals (Europe is all in)... maybe Canada.. and to avoid the politicla theater we seem destined to be saddled with til Im at least 60.
ReplyDeleteTrouble is you cant avoid it here. You cant check out of this madness because every area worth living is going to be under control of some rent seeking megacorp controlling access to energy, food, education, health care and recreation. We are going to have to pay to walk on the sidewalk to get to the park and then pay to get IN the park.
When Americans will wake up and take things back from these economic rapists/political terrorists
is the 64,000$ question. I wonder if enough ever will. I see no hope around me with the people I see regularly