What may be notable for many of these groups is not that they had to wait on official 401(c)(4) status but that they received it at all ultimately.
"When CVFC, a conservative veterans’ group in California, applied for tax-exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service, its biggest expenditure that year was several thousand dollars in radio ads backing a Republican candidate for Congress."
"The Wetumpka Tea Party, from Alabama, sponsored training for a get-out-the-vote initiative dedicated to the “defeat of President Barack Obama” while the I.R.S. was weighing its application."
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/27/us/politics/nonprofit-applicants-chafing-at-irs-tested-political-limits.html?hp&_r=3&
So while Wetumpka may see it as abusive that it had to wait 2 years the question is why they received it at all. It seems that their main focus was clearly electoral. In light of that what was so outrageous about the scrutiny they recieved?
" But a close examination of these groups and others reveals an array of election activities that tax experts and former I.R.S. officials said would provide a legitimate basis for flagging them for closer review."
I'd love to see it qualified just how many of these Tea Party groups don't engage in large amounts of electoral politics. I can't imagine very many if any at all. I've said it before-there is less to this story than Benghazi where at least we have a genuine tragedy-for the record, the reader Greg first made this observation.
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-irs-pseudoscandal-at-least-in.html
However, the real scandal in the IRS is not that too few 401(c)(4)s were handed out to Tea Party groups but that they have been handed out like candy; what's the use of something that both the Koch Brothers and Karl Rove's Crossroads qualifies for? If these groups aren't political then what is?
Yet, this story has even less meat on the bone than this. During the time the IRS was reviewing their application they continued to pay no tax. In fact these groups were never threatened with possibly having to pay tax but rather they applied for official 401(c)(4) status to avoid revealing their donors. So they get their tax subsidy from you and me no matter what.
I'm sure Darrell Issa's "investigation" is going to get to this side of the story soon.
"When CVFC, a conservative veterans’ group in California, applied for tax-exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service, its biggest expenditure that year was several thousand dollars in radio ads backing a Republican candidate for Congress."
"The Wetumpka Tea Party, from Alabama, sponsored training for a get-out-the-vote initiative dedicated to the “defeat of President Barack Obama” while the I.R.S. was weighing its application."
"And the head of the Ohio Liberty Coalition, whose application languished with the I.R.S. for more than two years, sent out e-mails to members about Mitt Romney campaign events and organized members to distribute Mr. Romney’s presidential campaign literature."
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/27/us/politics/nonprofit-applicants-chafing-at-irs-tested-political-limits.html?hp&_r=3&
So while Wetumpka may see it as abusive that it had to wait 2 years the question is why they received it at all. It seems that their main focus was clearly electoral. In light of that what was so outrageous about the scrutiny they recieved?
" But a close examination of these groups and others reveals an array of election activities that tax experts and former I.R.S. officials said would provide a legitimate basis for flagging them for closer review."
“Money is not the only thing that matters,” said Donald B. Tobin, a former lawyer with the Justice Department’s tax division who is a law professor at Ohio State University. “While some of the I.R.S. questions may have been overbroad, you can look at some of these groups and understand why these questions were being asked.”
Although we hear a lot about how they got unfair treatment, this is already a story of the past. In the last year, we've seen a slew of these groups get qualified-thanks in large part no doubt to pressure that the pressure that GOPers like Dave Camp have put on the IRS. So the wheel has been pretty greased recently anyway. This may well be the real problem.
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2013/05/in-last-year-irs-has-approved-tea-party.htmlI'd love to see it qualified just how many of these Tea Party groups don't engage in large amounts of electoral politics. I can't imagine very many if any at all. I've said it before-there is less to this story than Benghazi where at least we have a genuine tragedy-for the record, the reader Greg first made this observation.
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-irs-pseudoscandal-at-least-in.html
However, the real scandal in the IRS is not that too few 401(c)(4)s were handed out to Tea Party groups but that they have been handed out like candy; what's the use of something that both the Koch Brothers and Karl Rove's Crossroads qualifies for? If these groups aren't political then what is?
Yet, this story has even less meat on the bone than this. During the time the IRS was reviewing their application they continued to pay no tax. In fact these groups were never threatened with possibly having to pay tax but rather they applied for official 401(c)(4) status to avoid revealing their donors. So they get their tax subsidy from you and me no matter what.
I'm sure Darrell Issa's "investigation" is going to get to this side of the story soon.
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