The IRS Scandal, Day 725

Robert W. Wood (Forbes), IRS Approved Clinton Foundation And Scientology, But Targeted Tea Party:

Will there be an IRS investigation of the Clinton Foundation? Even suggesting it sounds laughable, for few can stand up to the Clintons, let alone to a Democratic administration. Besides, the IRS Exempt Organizations Division used to be run by Lois Lerner, and it isn’t clear how much has changed. In fact, we may never get to the bottom of the Tea Party targeting scandal. It almost looks as though the IRS will attack conservative groups but is silent on the Clinton Foundation. Heck, even Scientology got its IRS church status.

When it was revealed in 2013 that the IRS targeted conservative groups, the IRS Commissioner had to resign, but that was about it. Lois Lerner was at the center of the scandal but didn’t suffer any consequences. In fact, she got $129,000 in cash bonuses and retired with a full government pension. She evidently did a good job targeting at the Federal Election Commission, and then she moved over seamlessly to the IRS to do the same. Ms. Lerner is now out of the prosecutor’s eye with no criminal charges, nice bonuses, and a nice retirement. When she broke her silence to Politico, she said she did nothing wrong, claiming that she was the victim.

Given Mrs. Clinton’s email proclivities,Mrs. Clinton’s emails are even harder to find than Lois Lerner’s. And the Treasury Inspector General has just found 6,400 missing Lois Lerner emails. We surely will not see the IRS looking at the enormously wealthy Clinton Foundation, even though several watchdog groups suggest there’s something fishy there. First is the politics, since the tracking of who gives money and who needs something from Hillary’s State Department tracks closely.

In fact, a whopping 181 donors lobbied the State Department while Mrs. Clinton was there. Coincidence? Even apart from the political pay-for-play fears we may have, just look at the numbers. Charity Navigator says that the Clinton Foundation took in nearly $140 million in donations from individuals and groups. Boy, that must do a lot of good works, right?

Not so fast. It turns out that only approximately $9 million was paid out in direct aid. More than $130 million went to so-called ‘administrative and other expenses.’ Even if that is entirely on the up and up, it sure looks bad. If Clinton family members or friends end up with much of it, there could be a private inurement problem. Charities are supposed to benefit charitable goals, not line private pockets. ...

Perhaps there are undeleted emails about this on that private email server. The Foundation downplays the errors, noting that the money was included in the overall revenue figures reported to the IRS. Maybe, but the amendments are awkward, highlighting the Foundation’s continued receipt of foreign money while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State. Besides, sometimes the IRS views amended tax returns as too little, too late. Lucky for Mrs. Clinton, as President Obama told Fox News, there is ’not even a smidgen of corruption’ at the IRS.

Even thinking the best of all of this, the Clinton Foundation’s administrative costs seem awfully high. Of course, we now know that the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation will be amending multiple years of tax returns. Upon becoming Secretary of State, Mrs. Clinton promised that the Foundation would stop accepting donations from foreign governments. It turns out there were exceptions, and that the Foundation’s tax filings with the IRS were less than transparent.

• The IRS Scandal, Day 724 (May 3, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 723 (May 2, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 722 (May 1, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 721 (Apr. 30, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 720 (Apr. 29, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 719 (Apr. 28, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 718 (Apr. 27, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 717 (Apr. 26, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 716 (Apr. 25, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 715 (Apr. 24, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 714 (Apr. 23, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 713 (Apr. 22, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 712 (Apr. 21, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 711 (Apr. 20, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 710 (Apr. 19, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 709 (Apr. 18, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 708 (Apr. 17, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 707 (Apr. 16, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 706 (Apr. 15, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 705 (Apr. 14, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 704 (Apr. 13, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 703 (Apr. 12, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 702 (Apr. 11, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 701 (Apr. 10, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 601-700 (Dec. 31, 2014 - April 9, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 501-600 (Sept. 22, 2014-Dec. 30, 2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 401-500 (June 14, 2014 - Sept. 21,2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 301-400 (Mar. 6, 2014 - June 13, 2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 201-300 (Nov. 26, 2013 - Mar. 5, 2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 101-200 (Aug. 18, 2013 - Nov. 25, 2013)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 1-100 (May 10, 2013 - Aug. 17, 2013)