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The Republican
hysteria over the targeting of Conservatives groups by the IRS in their
pursuit of verification of granting tax exempt status of political advocacy
groups grows every minute. One wonders
if the city of Washington or the state of Texas are big enough to
contain the phony outrage.
Louisiana Governor
and Presidential wannabe Bobby Jindal has shrieked that people should go to
jail for taking away the freedom of others.
And professional Obama haters like Charles Krauthamer and Peggy Noonan
can barely contain their spew. So it’s
time to put the whole issue in perspective and do what the mainstream media has
not done and will not do, examine the issues.
A section of the tax
code, section 501(c)4 provides that groups that are formed to promote
public welfare are exempt from paying income taxes. Unlike 501(c)3 organizations, donor may not
deduct their contributions from their income taxes. Two very important points in the story are
(1) the 501 (c) 4 groups do not need to disclose their donors and they are not
allowed to engage in partisan political activity.
The IRS office in Cincinnati
No organization was
denied tax exempt status. No organization had to pay taxes. No organization
was forced to reveal its donors. No one
in the organization and no donors were singled out for examination of their
personal taxes. No one was denied the
right to campaign or support candidates of their choice. Nothing much happened.
The reason this is
not Nixonian is that Nixonian abuses were aimed at individuals. Individuals were persecuted and the direction
to persecute individuals came from the White House which saw the IRS as a way
to attack its political enemies.
So this scandal
simply exposes the managerial incompetence of the Obama administration, and
the administration’s total lack of understanding the politics of the
issue. In the end Conservatives and
corruption of money in politics has won.
Even if conservative political groups blatantly violate the law they now
have immunity. That, not the political
hysteria of the right is the lasting legacy of this idiocy.
I can't agree with you about all of this. The IRS asked some group for donor lists. It might not have "forced" any group to reveal its donors, but a request from the IRS carries implicit force and should not be made if the requested information is protected from disclosure. This is especially true when answers must be provided under penalty of perjury, as I believe the IRS requested.
ReplyDeleteThe IRS also asked questions about the groups' views and requested documentation of their activities. Now here things get murkier for me, as I don't know what sort of showing must be made to achieve 501(c)(4) status. It might be that these kinds of requests are acceptable, even proper, in a 501(c)(4) inquiry - after all, tax-exempt status is quite a benefit and should not be afforded to groups not meeting the criteria.
So putting aside the donor list and disparate treatment issues, the dispute I don't understand is whether it was ok for the IRS to request extensive non-donor list information from the groups.
What concerns me, among the problems you describe, is that the IRS already seemed to be a pushover in granting tax-exempt status. It is incredible that all of the applying Tea Party groups really merited 501(c)(4) status and none of them was primarily a political organization. While the Republicans portray the IRS as a monster that needs to be defunded and depowered, it seems that the IRS was already out of its league, as further evidenced by the clown show that is going on now.
The fallout will extend beyond giving conservative groups a free pass to tax exempt status. This scandal will give Republicans serious ammunition to use in their war against taxes on the wealthy. They will use it to reduce the IRS's enforcement power and reduce government revenue in general.