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Paul L. Caron
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Friday, June 6, 2014

The IRS Scandal, Day 393

IRS Logo 2New York Post editorial, Schumer’s IRS:

Did Chuck Schumer try to use the IRS to sidestep the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling — and stick a dagger in the heart of conservative groups? That’s the gist of a complaint filed this week with the Senate Select Committee on Ethics. ...

The complaint notes Schumer signed letters asking the IRS if it was investigating “social welfare organizations” to see if they were improperly campaigning. Turns out the IRS did investigate. And — surprise! — almost all the groups singled out for special IRS scrutiny were conservative.

It also points to a Schumer speech made earlier this year called “The Rise of the Tea Party and How Progressives Can Fight Back.” The speech, says the complaint, explains how the IRS could be a tool “to stamp out Tea Party organizations.”

Up to now, the press has not regarded the clear and deliberate IRS targeting of conservative organizations as a scandal, because it’s found no evidence it was ordered by the White House. If the Center for Competitive Politics is right, maybe the media should start looking at the Senate.m. 

https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2014/06/the-irs-scandal-5.html

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Comments

It isn't just a problem with Obama or with Schumer. Corruption and abuse of power is a party wide problem of the Democrats at all levels of government and as public service employees.

Obama may or may not have given orders to the IRS to persecute political dissidents but we know that the persecution continued long after Obama was made aware of it and this makes him complicit in the ongoing weaponization of government institutions to attack political opponents.

Posted by: wodun | Jun 6, 2014 1:07:23 PM

It is illegal for the President or the WH staff, or any non-Treasury executive branch agency or component, to try to influence federal tax assessment or collection. There is no similar bar with respect to the legislative branch. Thus, having found no extra-Treasury executive branch influence in the "The IRS Scandal, Day xxx," the right now seeks to migrate the "scandal" to the Congress. There is an "IRS Scandal" in Congress. It is not the one the right seems intent on revealing, however. The scandal is that "social welfare organizations" can spend ANY amount of money on politics and still remain tax exempt. But that doesn't fit the agenda, does it?

Posted by: Publius Novus | Jun 6, 2014 9:22:52 AM