Posted by Tina
We reported Saturday that Tea Party groups and groups with “patriot” in their names were targeted during the 2012 election cycle for extra scrutiny. In comments I also pointed to a Jewish organization that was targeted for disagreeing with the administrations policies. Today The Washington Free Beacon informs the Obama administration has been accused six times of using the IRS to punish political opponents. Follow the link for details…a list follows:
1. The IRS Targeted Conservative Political Organizations for Investigation
2. ProPublica Published Confidential IRS Filings on Six Conservative Organizations
3. Austan Goolsbee, Then Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors, Divulged on a Conference Call Confidential IRS Information on How Koch Industries Was Organized
4. Donors to Nonprofit Advocacy Groups Were Told that Past Donations Could Be Taxed as Gifts
5. After Being Singled Out by an Obama Campaign Website, a Romney Supporter Was Investigated by The IRS and the Department of Labor
6. The IRS Claims It Can Read Your Emails without a Warrant
Two stories in the Daily Caller this morning, here and here, seem to expand the IRS abuse story. One elaborates on the Romney’ donor that was targeted for audit by the IRS (# five above). The other further reveals that private information about the tax return of the National Organization for Marriage (#2 above) had been leaked:
“There is little question that one or more employees at the IRS stole our confidential tax return and leaked it to our political enemies, in violation of federal law,” said NOM’s president Brian Brow, in a prepared statement. “The only questions are who did it, and whether there was any knowledge or coordination between people in the White House, the Obama reelection campaign and the Human Rights Campaign. We and the American people deserve answers.”
The President has made a statement calling this “outrageous,” indicating he “had no tolerance” for this sort of thing…yada, yada, yada.
If that statement were consistent with the President’s and the President’s support organizations’ overall campaign style I might think he was being honest.
What if 20% of tax paying Americans decided to ignore the IRS? It would be something to see.
From David Plouffe Tweet.
“The IRS was wrong for targeting Tea Party groups. But, someone had to stop them from raising so much money.”
http://twitchy.com/2013/05/13/well-they-were-flourishing-david-plouffe-excuses-irs-targeting-of-conservative-groups/
The IRS IS under the Treasury Dept. and the president appoints the secretaries as he did with tax cheater Tim Geithner.
Why are we surprised with the illigal actions of the IRS when it’s top CEO was a tax cheater who not only got off scott free, but was in control over the whole agency?
A new book out by Donald Rumsfeld apparently contains a section that deals with the intimidating factor of the IRS:
Good reason to scrap the tax code and create a simplified code that cannot be used to target individuals or companies. Stretch this out a bit and you can understand why companies pay big lobbying groups to protect from onerous laws that hurt their businesses.
We have witnessed policies and legislation by this administration that specifically harm certain industries. Coal is a big one.
This is not government of, by, and for people; it is government for ideology and party…power and control over our lives, our choices, our daily pursuit of happiness.