IRS commissioner dares House GOP to hold him in contempt over Tea Party

[CarlosAndSveta 808]

That's 501c. And "failure"?

That copyright symbol was put in by the auto correct feature of this software. The "c" is supposed to be in parentheses so you have failed in pointing out my failure.

[UncleBeer 244]

That copyright symbol was put in by the auto correct feature of this software. The "c" is supposed to be in parentheses so you have failed in pointing out my failure.

I quote you from post #27:

The only code section mentioned was IRC section 503©(4)

It's really, really not section 503. Really. So feel free to go on about 'failure'....

[deleted-05292014 331]

Uncle you do realize that anyone can edit and create a Wikipedia page right? I mean just bc it's on wiki does not mean it's true.

The guy in charge in Cincinnati himself was a Republican. What does that tell you?

Last I read 0 tea party groups were denied. And I don't get my information from brietbart, infowars, and wiki but real news sources

[CarlosAndSveta 808]

I quote you from post #27:

It's really, really not section 503. Really. So feel free to go on about 'failure'....

You got me on that one.

[UncleBeer 244]

Last I read 0 tea party groups were denied. And I don't get my information from brietbart, infowars, and wiki but real news sources

By all means: provide credible documentation.

The guy in charge in Cincinnati himself was a Republican. What does that tell you?

That this goes higher up (which anyone with deductive reasoning would already have concluded).

You got me on that one.

Well, you wanted to go on and on about 'utter failure' while incorrectly citing legislation.

[deleted-05292014 331]

By all means: provide credible documentation.

That this goes higher up (which anyone with deductive reasoning would already have concluded).

Well, you wanted to go on and on about 'utter failure' while incorrectly citing legislation.

By all means I will:

http://www.nationalmemo.com/the-tea-party-the-irs-scandal-and-the-actual-facts-of-the-case/

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/700723-treasury-inspector-general-for-tax.html

Unlike you I go right to the source. The United States treasury inspector general for tax administration.

A May 14 draft report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found that none of the 296 questionable applicants had been denied: “For the 296 potential political cases we reviewed, as of December 17, 2012, 108 applications had been approved, 28 were withdrawn by the applicant, none had been denied, and 160 cases were open from 206 to 1,138 calendar days (some crossing two election cycles).”

Edited March 29, 2014 by Jinx614

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

By all means I will:

http://www.nationalmemo.com/the-tea-party-the-irs-scandal-and-the-actual-facts-of-the-case/

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/700723-treasury-inspector-general-for-tax.html

Unlike you I go right to the source. The United States treasury inspector general for tax administration.

A May 14 draft report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found that none of the 296 questionable applicants had been denied: “For the 296 potential political cases we reviewed, as of December 17, 2012, 108 applications had been approved, 28 were withdrawn by the applicant, none had been denied, and 160 cases were open from 206 to 1,138 calendar days (some crossing two election cycles).”

Bummer. Here you come with facts again. How daft.

[deleted-05292014 331]

Bummer. Here you come with facts again. How daft.

I know man, I'm no fun

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

I know man, I'm no fun

I know. You're like a freaking premature hangover. Spoil the best parties. Or circlejerks, as it may be.

[deleted-05292014 331]

I used to be into conspiracy theories when I was like.....8. I used to love watching Leonard Nemoys , In Search Of. Anyone remember that show? Aliens building stonehenge, mystical ships built the pyramids, Yeti taking a stroll though Yellowstone but then I grew up.

Arguing with people on the right is like taking a trip back to middle school and arguing whether wrestling is real or fake.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

I used to be into conspiracy theories when I was like.....8. I used to love watching Leonard Nemoys , In Search Of. Anyone remember that show? Aliens building stonehenge, mystical ships built the pyramids, Yeti taking a stroll though Yellowstone but then I grew up.

Arguing with people on the right is like taking a trip back to middle school and arguing whether wrestling is real or fake.

I see you got their number.

[UncleBeer 244]

From your quote:

“For the 296 potential political cases we reviewed, as of December 17, 2012, 108 applications had been approved, 28 were withdrawn by the applicant, none had been denied, and 160 cases were open from 206 to 1,138 calendar days (some crossing two election cycles).”

"Had not been denied" does not equal "approved", (and is there ANY possible justification for letting ANY case lay idle for 1,138 days??). In fact, your citation jibes nicely with my post (#23) from the previous page:

Over the two years between April 2010 and April 2012, the IRS essentially placed on hold the processing of applications for 501©(4) tax-exemption status received from organizations with "Tea Party," "patriots," or "9/12" in their names. While apparently none of these organizations' applications were denied during this period,^{[Note 2]} only 4 were approved.^[49] During the same general period, the agency approved applications from several dozen presumably liberal-leaning organizations whose names included terms such as "progressive," "progress," "liberal," or "equality."

This graph from NYTimes' Nate Silver shows the IRS rate of approval of targeted conservative groups during the period in question. Once Congressional scrutiny came to bear, the approvals started coming through. Amazing what a little daylight & fresh air will do.

Unfortunately it had its effect on the 2012 elections. This was nothing less than brazen election rigging, much as one might see in a banana republic.

Thanks for the link that so nicely proved my point!

Edited March 29, 2014 by UncleBeer

[CarlosAndSveta 808]

Unfortunately it had its effect on the 2012 elections. This was nothing less than brazen election rigging, much as one might see in a banana republic.

Thanks for the link that so nicely proved my point!

So how exactly did some of these organizations not getting their application approved affect the elections? Contributions to these types of organizations are not tax deductible. The only incentive for contributing to this type of organization is that the donors don't have to be disclosed. So how exactly was somebody stopped from voting in the elections?

[UncleBeer 244]

So how exactly did some of these organizations not getting their application approved affect the elections?

The IRS says the rule of thumb for 501c4s is that they're allowed to engage in political activity, as long as it's not more than 50% of the group's activity. While they're strictly prohibited from "electioneering", they quite often engage in "lobbying", "issue advocacy", or "education". Often these are frank media buys either advocating or criticizing particular candidates; essentially political ads.

The IRS allows this on both sides of the political spectrum, but since the extra scrutiny and audits of potential- and already existing conservative organizations deliberately limited the number of conservative 501c groups, they had less chance to affect voter opinion. As I say: naked election-rigging.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Take a look at how much air time each side had and you will probably find that it cut right down the middle. Besides, who pays attention to these brain dead ads anyways? IMHO, they should just put away with that part of the IRS code altogether - that would maybe clean the airwaves a little from all this idiotic campaigning.