Paul L. Caron
Dean





Saturday, June 7, 2014

The IRS Scandal, Day 394

IRS Logo 2The Jersualem Post editorial:   Z Street and the IRS:

The Z Street case may be what forces the IRS to pull aside its carefully constructed curtain and reveal how it made decisions regarding organizations deemed out of step with the current US administration

Last spring, the US media were filled with accusations that the IRS was using its power over nonprofits to stifle opposition to the Obama administration.

While congressional efforts to investigate the alleged wrongdoings have been stymied, a decision by a federal judge in Washington may force the IRS to disclose whether a small, staunchly pro-Israel group was victimized.

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson of the US District Court for the District of Columbia threw out every legal defense the IRS raised in Z Street v. Koskinen, IRS Commissioner. She ordered the IRS to provide a substantive answer to Z Street’s complaint by June 26.

Z Street brought its lawsuit for viewpoint discrimination after, it alleges, the IRS agent to whom the organization’s file had been assigned said Z Street’s application for tax exemption might take a long time to process because the IRS “has to give special scrutiny to organizations connected to Israel,” and that the files of some of those applicants “will be sent to a special unit in Washington to determine whether the activities of the organization contradict the public policies of the administration.”

If borne out by the evidence, this would be an astounding violation of free speech rights.

https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2014/06/strong.html

IRS News, IRS Scandal, Tax | Permalink

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