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Can you provide some links to the good works that "Progressive" groups do that were not targeted?
Whether or not Tea Party groups or Progressive groups deserve tax exempt status is irrelevant to this discussion. This discussion is about equal treatment under the law and the illegal activities of IRS employees. Conservative groups were targeted based on their political ideology and the IRS cannot do that even if they did it equally.
What are you talking about? Wether they deserve tax exempt status is the core of this. That's exactly what IRS employees were looking into. Tea Party groups threw a three yard fit and got their tax exempt status.
"But-but progressive groups do it too" is no defense.
Originally Posted by Kibby
All of that is true -- BUT, it's also true that under our Laws AND the United State Merit Protection Board, what she did is NOT a "crime" that can be prosecuted.
Lois Lerner and Other IRS Employees Will Not Be Prosecuted |Government Executive - October 23, 2015
The Committees that held the hearings never filed any charges or asked any to be filed.
The Justice Department on Friday, in letters to the chairmen and ranking members of the House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform committees, said there is “no evidence to support a criminal prosecution” of former IRS Exempt Organizations division director Lois Lerner or any other IRS employee involved in the 2010-2012 mishandling of applications from primarily conservative nonprofits seeking status as social welfare organizations.
Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik said, “The IRS mishandled the processing of tax-exempt applications in a manner that disproportionately impacted applicants affiliated with the Tea Party and similar groups, leaving the appearance that the IRS’s conduct was motivated by political, discriminatory, corrupt, or other inappropriate motive.” However, he added, “ineffective management is not a crime.”
Apparently there is no LAW against IRS Employees targeting certain citizens because they disagree with them Politically. This is one of the reasons I keep saying that we need to clean house in the IRS and get rid of their Leadership.
Kevin Brady is taking Cheap Shots at AG Jeff Sessions and probably President Trump also - Brady has to be aware that Sessions/Trump can't just make up Laws ....... only TeamObama could do that and get away with it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pknopp
What the article states and the excuse you use are two very different things. This was not simply ineffectual management.
I'm certainly not excusing Lois Lerner - just pointing out why SHE won't be prosecuted. She deserves to be in Jail, along with those who gave her the orders to Target Conservatives using the Mighty IRS.
Lawsuits against the IRS over this Targeting are going forward - a class action case in Ohio and a case in D.C.
So far - the Judges on both cases are pushing the IRS hard.
The SWAMP in Washington D.C. is both wide and very deep.
Electioneering is not considered social welfare work. Only a minor a minor portion of a 501(c)(4) group’s activities can involve electioneering.
Which means it's not illegal or banned or whatever, right?
Quote:
The reason 501(c)(4) groups get by with violating the anti-electioneering rule is that the IRS has few resources to enforce it.
So where is that list of social welfare activities that the Tea Party groups have been up to?
The IRS has plenty of resources. I'm not here to defend any of these groups. What happened did great harm to the country. The idea that the government would use the IRS to go after their political opponents was tin foil hat stuff. No more.
We had to be able to trust the IRS to be fair and balanced. That is gone.
I'm certainly not excusing Lois Lerner - just pointing out why SHE won't be prosecuted. She deserves to be in Jail, along with those who gave her the orders to Target Conservatives using the Mighty IRS.
Lawsuits against the IRS over this Targeting are going forward - a class action case in Ohio and a case in D.C.
So far - the Judges on both cases are pushing the IRS hard.
The SWAMP in Washington D.C. is both wide and very deep.
The lawsuits are going forward but they are lawsuits brought by outside groups. That it is being dropped by the GOP is simply another example of their lies to get elected.
It's been four years now since these Tea Party groups got their tax-exempt status as social welfare organizations.
Though some maintain their education of the American people is their good work in the world, others point out that this "education" looks suspiciously like electioneering, which is prohibited for tax-exempt groups.
Can anyone link to an article or even a blog post that lists the tax-exempt good works the Tea Party groups have done?
The discussion should be regarding tax exemption for any of these political groups rather than this contrived conspiracy. The IRS rules put them in an awkward position attempting to determine which groups meet the IRS standard for being a political group. Here we are years later still trying to make a case out of a pile of nothing.
Electioneering is not considered social welfare work. Only a minor a minor portion of a 501(c)(4) group’s activities can involve electioneering.
The reason 501(c)(4) groups get by with violating the anti-electioneering rule is that the IRS has few resources to enforce it.
So where is that list of social welfare activities that the Tea Party groups have been up to?
I believe the limit for political involvement for 501c4s is 49%. Its 501c3s that can only have a minor portion (less than 5%) of their work be political.
Frankly its the high percentage for 510c4s that requires extra scrutiny. How is the IRS to tell if such groups are violating their tax exempt status without a more intensive investigation. They can do a lot of political work and still maintain their status, where 501c3s are much more limited.
I would note that Trump has called for unleashing the 501c3s so they could also be tax exempt organizations heavily involved in politics.
Random IRS employees asking question does result in 100% of one particular group being flagged.
The issue with this is it's never been determined who implemented this. The investigation has led to Lerner, it was either her or someone above her. She headed one of only about 5 major divisions at the IRS. There is not a whole lot of people in authority above her.
Lerner >> Head of the IRS >> Treasury Secretary >> President
Yeah, how strange that a group that is tied to politics would draw more attention than other groups.
I believe the division of the IRS that Lerner was in charge of was responsible for implementing the tax exempt laws passed by Congress and signed by the President.
Can you provide some links to the good works that "Progressive" groups do that were not targeted?
Whether or not Tea Party groups or Progressive groups deserve tax exempt status is irrelevant to this discussion. This discussion is about equal treatment under the law and the illegal activities of IRS employees. Conservative groups were targeted based on their political ideology and the IRS cannot do that even if they did it equally.
Prove that "Conservative groups were targeted based on their political ideology". If the DOJ could prove that then there would a case. The problem, if you desire to prosecute Lerner, is apparently they can't prove that motivation.
The discussion should be regarding tax exemption for any of these political groups rather than this contrived conspiracy. The IRS rules put them in an awkward position attempting to determine which groups meet the IRS standard for being a political group. Here we are years later still trying to make a case out of a pile of nothing.
Nailed it.
Why are any of these political groups tax exempt?
What possible reason is there for us all to subsidize electioneering by any group, regardless of what they're peddling?
They should be paying taxes like everybody else. If they are involved in tax-deductible charitable endeavors, so be it. Deduct that amount from income like we all do.
Tax reform needs to take a close look at all tax deductions and tax exemptions, not just the ones that impact working people.
Tax exempt organizations pushing a political point of view needs to be reassessed and assigned the tax category they actually belong in.
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