AP Exclusive: IRS knew tea party targeted in 2011

PeteEU said:

I dont see the problem.. any organisation that gets tax exemption should be the constant target of the IRS to see if they abuse the tax exemption rules.

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Senior Internal Revenue Service officials knew employees were singling out conservative groups for extra scrutiny as early as 2011, according to a watchdog agency’s report set to be released next week, POLITICO has confirmed from a congressional source.

The disclosure that senior officials knew agents were flagging applications containing the words “patriot” or “tea party” contradicts public statements by former IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman. He repeatedly denied that his agency was targeting conservative groups when asked by Congress last year.

“There’s absolutely no targeting. This is the kind of back and forth that happens to people” who apply for tax-exempt status, Shulman told a House Ways and Means subcommittee in March 2012.

The congressional source, who was briefed on the report, said the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found that senior Washington officials were informed in 2011.

The findings from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration report was first reported by Associated Press. The report is set to be released in full next week.

The report will also confirm that the IRS asked unnecessary questions of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status from the agency, the source said, and that there were delays in processing applications for conservative applicants and other c(4) groups.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) will convene a hearing on the matter in the coming weeks. Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) will do the same. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor also said the House would investigate the matter.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, the ranking member of the Finance Committee, promised to fully investigate who was behind the IRS decision to probe conservative tax-exempt groups and compared the practice to Watergate and “the Nixon years.”

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Bronson said:

Translation: You have no problem with the IRS acting like the Gestapo and being used as a political billy club

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The Prof said:

then why did they LIE about it?



IRS officials knew of tea party targeting - Lauren French - POLITICO.com

you're gonna see hearings on this one IN THE SENATE

this targeting of the political opposition has been going on for years, from texas to virginia

Numerous Tea Party chapters claim IRS attempts to sabotage nonprofit status | Fox News

IRS Battling Tea Party Groups Over Tax-Exempt Status/HuffingtonPost

Claim: IRS Won

how could fox news and huffpo know and not the commissioner?

if he didn't know, then how could he testify his definitive denial?

coverups, rewriting talking points, threatening witnesses, using the irs...

how do you spell nixonian

this very ugly, very revealing story is gonna be in the news for many months---dave camp and charles boustany and evil darrell issa will make sure

you will see dems like max trainwreck baucus and ultra lib carl levin come over, it's that bad

worry

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austrianecon said:

Problem is the IRS was being used as a Political tool to try and silence people. If IRS looked into the equal amount of liberal groups like say AFL-CIO which is a 501(c)(5).

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The IRS acknowledging that it targeted conservative political groups during the 2012 election season has sparked bipartisan calls for investigation -- with House Republicans already saying they will hold a hearing on the issue.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said Friday the Republican-led chamber would investigate the tax-collecting agency for flagging the groups for additional review to see whether they were violating their tax-exempt status.

“The IRS cannot target or intimidate any individual or organization based on their political beliefs,” the Virginia Republican said.

Cantor’s comments were followed within minutes by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp saying he would hold a hearing.

The IRS on Friday apologized for targeting groups, but Camp, R-Mich., argued the agency had “repeatedly denied” such activity.

“The admission by the agency that it targeted American taxpayers based on politics is both shocking and disappointing,” he said.

The committee has jurisdiction over the IRS, but it remains unclear whether other House committees also will investigate the issue, in which roughly 300 groups were flagged.

Republicans were joined by a leading Senate Democrat in the call for congressional investigations.

Michigan Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, said members have already been looking into the IRS's failure to make sure tax-exempt groups engage only in social welfare activities -- not partisan politics.

“Today’s announcement by the IRS raises a second issue: whether the IRS, to the extent it has enforced its rules, has been impartial in doing so,” Levin said Friday. “Both issues require investigation.”

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LowDown said:

Yes, the coercive powers of government should never be used for partisan purposes.

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NORML's mission is to move public opinion sufficiently to achieve the repeal of marijuana prohibition so that the responsible use of cannabis by adults is no longer subject to penalty.

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trfjr said:

It doesnt end with the Tea Party. come to find out it wasn't only conservative groups that were unjustly profiled. Jewish organizations were also singled out for extra scrutiny

IRS Inquisition Update | National Review Online

who is left on Obamas enemy list?

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Grant said:

They seem to be okay with organizations like this in Europe, even those which are elected and answerable to no one.. All we need do is check their history.

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PeteEU said:

You mean like spying on the Quakers? Warrentless wiretaps? The no fly list where Democratic politicians suddenly appeared on? The AG scandal where non political AGs were fired after they refused to go after local Democrats on the orders of local Republicans? You mean those abuses?

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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.

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“I've gotten a number of letters,” Boustany said at that hearing. “Just recently, we've seen some recent press allegations that the IRS is targeting certain Tea Party groups across the country requesting what have been described as owner's document requests, delaying approval for tax-exempt status, and that kind of thing. Can you elaborate on what's going on with that? I mean, can you give us assurances that the IRS is not targeting particular groups based on political leanings?”

“Yes,” said Shulman. “No, thanks for bringing this up, because I think there's been a lot of press about this and a lot of moving information. So, I appreciate the opportunity to clarify. First, let me start by saying, yes, I can give you assurances.”

“And so, what's been happening has been the normal back-and-forth that happens with the IRS,” Shulman testified. “None of the alleged taxpayers and obviously, I can't talk about individual taxpayers, and I'm not involved in these, are in examination process. They're in an application process which they moved into, voluntarily. And so, there's absolutely no targeting. This is the kind of back-and-forth that happens when people apply for 501(c)(4) status.”

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Deuce said:

National Review Online, eh?

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trfjr said:

sorry are they not an approved source? maybe if you can give me a list of your approved sources we wont have this problem in the future

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trfjr said:

sorry are they not an approved source? maybe if you can give me a list of your approved sources we wont have this problem in the future

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Bronson said:

The only sources he finds credible are Media Matters and Think Progress

Better just to ignore his buffoonery

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PeteEU said:

So it is bad when the IRS is used as a political tool, but when the military and Justice departments are used as political tools, then it is not a problem?

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notquiteright said:

Actually the Unions were targeted by the IRS, FBI, and Treasury during the great Mafia sweeps. I remember many union key members doing the perp walk into court over taxes, lifestyles above their declared income and the like.

Who got Al Capone, the FBI or the IRS?

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PeteEU said:

And you of course have the same opinion of the Bush administration that did far far worse right?

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austrianecon said:

So more then 30 years ago and because REAL crime was taken place. When is the AFL-CIO's slush fund for democratic donations been looked at.

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apdst said:

With the, "Cons"? One would think you would be with, "America", on this one.

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Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
Read more at Albert Einstein Quotes - BrainyQuote

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The Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups is outrageous. Those who did this should be fired immediately. That’s obvious.

It continues a slovenly week for Barack Obama. The President has been very proud of the absence of scandal in his administration, and rightly so. The inability of his opponents to find any significant corruption in the historic $800 billion stimulus package was a real achievement, given the speed of the payout. None of his top aides have been caught up in taking bribes while in office–although their race through the revolving door into lucrative private sector positions is well beyond nauseating.

As in most presidencies, there have been an awful lot of political hacks populating the mid-reaches of this Administration. In the Obama instance, these have shown an anachronistic, pre-Clinton liberal bias when it comes to the rules and regulations governing many of our safety net programs, like social security disability. And now they have violated one of the more sacred rules of our democracy: you do not use the tax code to punish your opponents.

Lois G. Lerner, the IRS official who oversees tax-exempt groups, said the “absolutely inappropriate” actions by “front-line people” were not driven by partisan motives.

Does anyone actually believe this?

Yet again, we have an example of Democrats simply not managing the government properly and with discipline. This is just poisonous at a time of skepticism about the efficacy of government. And the President should know this: the absence of scandal is not the presence of competence. His unwillingness to concentrate–and I mean concentrate obsessively–on making sure that government is managed efficiently will be part of his legacy.

Previous presidents, including great ones like Roosevelt, have used the IRS against their enemies. But I don’t think Barack Obama ever wanted to be on the same page as Richard Nixon. In this specific case, he now is.

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Unitedwestand13 said:

If you close the IRS then who will collect the taxes?

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Woodman909 said:

The Treasury Dept

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