Paul L. Caron
Dean





Monday, December 14, 2015

The IRS Scandal, Day 949

IRS Logo 2Washington Times:  Who Will Stop the IRS?, by Judson Phillips (Founder, Tea Party Nation):

The Internal Revenue Service. Those are four words that will cause fear in almost every American. There is something seriously wrong when America has a government that is of the people, by the people and for the people; and the American people have to be afraid of the government.

The Obama regime weaponized the IRS for use against conservatives in 2010. After the IRS scandal became public in 2013, conservatives looked to Republicans in Washington. The House of Representatives took no action against the IRS. At a time when then House Speaker John Boehner could have incarcerated Lois Lerner, the IRS official at the center, but chose not to.

Emboldened by the failure of the Republicans to act, the IRS is moving again. Last week, the Internal Revenue Service proposed a regulation that would “give” non-profits, including 501C4 groups, the “option” of recording the Social Security numbers of donors who contribute $250 or more.

What could possibly go wrong?

https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2015/12/the-irs-scandal-day-949.html

IRS News, IRS Scandal, Tax | Permalink

Comments

Yes Publius, we know that congress can not prosecute anyone. That falls to Obama's DOJ who had no problems with what Obama's IRS was doing. Not surprising since they were conspiring with Lerner. Funny how that internal investigation didn't find any wrong doing.

Posted by: wodun | Dec 14, 2015 2:48:11 PM

The anonymous coward "Publius" just reminds us that for liberals in general and Democrats in particular, lying - up to and including felony perjury - is one of their chief sacraments. For leftists, it is about power at ANY price, and those ends justify ANY means. Thus lying about the policies of Obama and his IRS cretins is not just acceptable, it is considered admirable.

Posted by: Andrew Russell | Dec 14, 2015 12:42:35 PM

Per the TIGTA's reports and letters to Congress, 100% of conservative-named groups were scrutinized while 30% of progressives were.

Whether you call that the IRS attacking conservatives, or practicing prosecutorial discretion to protect a political ally, seems the same.

Posted by: Chuck | Dec 14, 2015 11:35:19 AM

Publius Leftist: Read your note again. You tacitly admit that the IRS was selective in giving out tax-free status. This isn't revisionism, and no amount of shaming by you or anyone else can change the fact that you support crooks (gee, I remember when the left said shame was a terrible thing, and now they use it more than the puritans. Define hypocrisy again for me.).

Posted by: teapartydoc | Dec 14, 2015 9:55:55 AM

...and last Friday night in a State Dept. 'news dump' State announced that it seems to have 'lost' the emails of the employee who set up Hillary Clinton's secret server in her basement. The guy is already taking the Fifth. And you know what? The mainstream media is not the LEAST bit interested. Could not care less. Now...just imagine if the leading Republican contented for president was discovered to have a secret server while SoS...and the man in charge of running it refused to talk to investigators, think the media MIGHT be interested? Guaranteed...it'd be "news" 24/7...with breathless anchors asking "what did the Secretary know and when did he/she know it"? Double standard much?

Posted by: VoteOutIncumbents | Dec 14, 2015 8:21:55 AM

The right-wing revisionism on the IRS "scandal" becomes ever more bizarre. Judson Phillips complains that “then House Speaker John Boehner could have incarcerated Lois Lerner, the IRS official at the center, but chose not to.” These modern-day Pharisees loudly and constantly profess interpretative expertise of and allegiance to a fundamentalist and simplistic version of the U.S. Constitution. Mr. Phillips is apparently blissfully unaware that Congress cannot pass bills of attainder, cannot “incarcerate,” and cannot prosecute–anyone.

BTW, if the IRS just did its job, which really would have required it to have been “emboldened,” it would have denied ALL 501(c)(4) applications from ALL political groups and classified them as 527s. And of course, that is what Congress intended when it passed § 527.

Posted by: Publius Novus | Dec 14, 2015 6:50:27 AM

Anyone who thinks they need not be afraid of their government is delusional. And probably never viscerally understood the whole point of the structural "balance of power."

Posted by: ruralcounsel | Dec 14, 2015 5:21:47 AM