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Re: IRS higher-ups requested info on conservative groups, letters show
Actually this is exactly what we should be talking about. Is it right to profile? Or rather, when is profiling justified?
Of course we should all be outraged if a guy pulls over a black guy just because he's black. But what if he pulls over a black guy just because he's black, driving a white bronco on I405 on June 17th 1994. Is that objectionable? Wouldn't it be far more objectionable to pull over every white truck just so we don't discriminate?
When can we use race, religion, sex, etc.. as a search criteria to investigate someone? I'd say that we need evidence that some wrongdoing has occurred and evidence that the wrongdoing was carried out by someone of a particular race, religion, sex etc...
So what was the situation here?
From 1990-2008 political spending by groups that didn't have to disclose their donors averaged 16.3%. Immediately after Citizens United it shot up to more than double its historic average (41.3%). This was significantly higher than the previous outlier (1994-30.1%). Here's the breakdown of spending by year.
Based on historic norms, the IRS would have expected 501c groups to spend between 25 and 65 Million in 2010. Instead 501c spending was 130 million, more than double the highest possible value.
Clearly 501c organizations were no longer being used either exclusively or primarily for social welfare. This is clear evidence of abuse. Now looking at historical averages, it would be highly irregular if more than $30M was spent on a single side. Liberals spent $10M, a third of our theoretical max. Conservatives on the other hand spent $115M, more than 3 times as much as we could rationally expect.
So we have clear and compelling evidence of dramatic increase in abuse of 501c status in 2010. We also have clear evidence that the increase in abuse is essentially only among conservative groups. So why can't we say that the IRS should be on the look out for conservative political groups masquerading as social welfare groups? And where's the evidence for abuse when we find that two thirds of the groups investigated were conservative, even though conservative groups made up 80% of the new applications and accounted for 85-90% of spending?
Again, I'm not saying that the IRS did nothing wrong. But the vast majority of these complaints sound like someone who's upset that every white bronco wasn't pulled over during the OJ Simpson chase, instead of just the one with the black guy.
I would not know any democrats who would suggest that is highly unethical if not illegal...Hey Mr. Pot, the kettle called and said you are black.
Now care to put forth actual arguments rather than hypocritical one sided accusations of biased treatment?
Actually this is exactly what we should be talking about. Is it right to profile? Or rather, when is profiling justified?
Of course we should all be outraged if a guy pulls over a black guy just because he's black. But what if he pulls over a black guy just because he's black, driving a white bronco on I405 on June 17th 1994. Is that objectionable? Wouldn't it be far more objectionable to pull over every white truck just so we don't discriminate?
When can we use race, religion, sex, etc.. as a search criteria to investigate someone? I'd say that we need evidence that some wrongdoing has occurred and evidence that the wrongdoing was carried out by someone of a particular race, religion, sex etc...
So what was the situation here?
From 1990-2008 political spending by groups that didn't have to disclose their donors averaged 16.3%. Immediately after Citizens United it shot up to more than double its historic average (41.3%). This was significantly higher than the previous outlier (1994-30.1%). Here's the breakdown of spending by year.
Year | Liberal | Conservative | ||
2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 | $6.5M $0.6M $17.9M $10.7M $34.1M | 62% 12% 26% 8% 11% | $1.9M $0.5M $39.5M $115.2M $265.2M | 18% 10% 57% 88% 85% |
Based on historic norms, the IRS would have expected 501c groups to spend between 25 and 65 Million in 2010. Instead 501c spending was 130 million, more than double the highest possible value.
Clearly 501c organizations were no longer being used either exclusively or primarily for social welfare. This is clear evidence of abuse. Now looking at historical averages, it would be highly irregular if more than $30M was spent on a single side. Liberals spent $10M, a third of our theoretical max. Conservatives on the other hand spent $115M, more than 3 times as much as we could rationally expect.
So we have clear and compelling evidence of dramatic increase in abuse of 501c status in 2010. We also have clear evidence that the increase in abuse is essentially only among conservative groups. So why can't we say that the IRS should be on the look out for conservative political groups masquerading as social welfare groups? And where's the evidence for abuse when we find that two thirds of the groups investigated were conservative, even though conservative groups made up 80% of the new applications and accounted for 85-90% of spending?
Again, I'm not saying that the IRS did nothing wrong. But the vast majority of these complaints sound like someone who's upset that every white bronco wasn't pulled over during the OJ Simpson chase, instead of just the one with the black guy.