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Paul L. Caron
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Thursday, October 30, 2014

The IRS Scandal, Day 539

IRS Logo 2Investor's Business Daily editorial:  IRS Is A Unique Troublemaker Among Federal Agencies:

It's also been used as a political weapon. President Obama may owe his 2012 re-election to the IRS, which blocked the formation of groups that opposed him.

The IRS-Tea Party scandal entered Day 536 on Monday by the TaxProf blog's count, and it appears that the scandal will go on much longer without resolution.

Bob Woodward suggests that the media investigate it as it did Watergate. We laud his bravery. He's opened himself up to attacks from two vicious and unaccountable adversaries: the IRS and the mainstream media.

https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2014/10/the-irs-4.html

IRS News, IRS Scandal, Tax | Permalink

Comments

Let’s take a look at the statement “President Obama may owe his 2012 re-election to the IRS, which blocked the formation of groups that opposed him.” This statement is tautological and demonstrates the falsity of the right’s “reasoning” on this non-issue. Follow along. If the “groups that opposed [Pres. Obama]” were opposed to the president’s re-election, they were either going to advocate against the president’s re-election or they were not. If the latter, they were entitled to 501(c)(4) status, but would not have effected the election because they were not political advocacy groups. If the former, they were entitled to 527 status but not 501(c)(4) status because they were political advocacy groups, and the IRS acted correctly. But in neither case can it be said that the election improperly was tilted by the IRS’ action.

Posted by: Publius Novus | Oct 31, 2014 8:18:53 AM

And here's the data.
http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=irs%20scandal

The IRS scandal has been old hat since Sept. 2013.

Posted by: Baseball Fan | Oct 30, 2014 4:28:51 PM

I think the mainstream media's readership probably got bored around day 60. At day 539, whether it's important or not, it's no longer "news."

Posted by: Baseball Fan | Oct 30, 2014 4:18:50 PM

Have you noticed the mainstream media onrush to embrace Bob Woodward's remarks about investigating the IRS and dispatching their own investigative journalists and expanding coverage of the scandal? Nah, me neither, especially with critical elections less than a week away and the fact that revelations of Obama corruption would hurt the Democrats.

Posted by: Woody | Oct 30, 2014 8:32:28 AM