IRS Apologizes for Targeting Conservative Groups

[Dusty]

I'm sure this happens all the time, and the motivation wasn't political, or anything..

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/irs-a...rvative-groups

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Internal Revenue Service inappropriately flagged conservative political groups for additional reviews during the 2012 election to see if they were violating their tax-exempt status, a top IRS official said Friday.

Organizations were singled out because they included the words "tea party" or "patriot" in their applications for tax-exempt status, said Lois Lerner, who heads the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt groups.


In some cases, groups were asked for their list of donors, which violates IRS policy in most cases, she said.

"That was wrong. That was absolutely incorrect, it was insensitive and it was inappropriate. That's not how we go about selecting cases for further review," Lerner said at a conference sponsored by the American Bar Association.

"The IRS would like to apologize for that," she added.

Lerner said the practice was initiated by low-level workers in Cincinnati and was not motivated by political bias. After her talk, she told The AP that no high level IRS officials knew about the practice. She did not say when they found out.

Many conservative groups complained during the election that they were being harassed by the IRS. They accused the agency of frustrating their attempts to become tax exempt by sending them lengthy, intrusive questionnaires.

The forms, which the groups made available at the time, sought information about group members' political activities, including details of their postings on social networking websites and about family members.

Certain tax-exempt charitable groups can conduct political activities but it cannot be their primary activity.

IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman told Congress in March 2012 that the IRS was not targeting groups based on their political views.

"There's absolutely no targeting. This is the kind of back and forth that happens to people" who apply for tax-exempt status, Shulman told a House Ways and Means subcommittee.

Shulman was appointed by President George W. Bush. His 6-year term ended in November. President Barack Obama has yet to nominate a successor. The agency is now being run by acting Commissioner Steven Miller.

Snip

[Pete]

"............Lerner said the practice was initiated by low-level workers in Cincinnati and was not motivated by political bias................"

Yeah, right.

What was it then? Accident?

[Team Sergeant]

Originally Posted by Pete

"............Lerner said the practice was initiated by low-level workers in Cincinnati and was not motivated by political bias................"

Yeah, right.

What was it then? Accident?

Yeah, not politically motivated.

And no one will be losing their gov job over it.......

Let me know when the shooting starts....

[MR2]

So when there is a mistake made by a taxpayer, they face fines, penalties, and jail time. When the IRS violates the law, they get to apologize...

[Dusty]

Originally Posted by Pete

"............Lerner said the practice was initiated by low-level workers in Cincinnati and was not motivated by political bias................"

Yeah, right.

What was it then? Accident?

LIke Leno says, "Hope and Change the Subject."

[Team Sergeant]

Originally Posted by MR2

So when there is a mistake made by a taxpayer, they face fines, penalties, and jail time. When the IRS violates the law, they get to apologize...

WHAT DOES IT MATTER NOW!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dusty]

Originally Posted by Team Sergeant

WHAT DOES IT MATTER NOW!!!!!!!!!!!

Doesn't matter to any Obamabot who doesn't pay taxes, anyway.

[cbtengr]

Originally Posted by MR2

So when there is a mistake made by a taxpayer, they face fines, penalties, and jail time. When the IRS violates the law, they get to apologize...

The apology seemed sincere to me. They were low level employees, I mean c'mon cut them some slack......................

[JimP]

Same thing happened during whistledick's regime (Clinton), they routinely used the IRS to audit/attack conservatives and conservative organizations. Effers....

[ddoering]

Hence the need for the 2d Amendment.

[Airbornelawyer]

What is that expression? "It is easier to do what you want and apologize than to ask permission first". Or something like that?

The excuse is that there were a large number of applications from organizations which might potentially cross thew line between providing information and engaging in political activity, so some minor official decided to set aside in a special file organizations with either "tea party" or "patriot" in their name, because apparently the word "patriot" makes some bureaucrat automatically think "partisan" (I will stipulate that "tea party" might raise flags, since it does have "party" in its name). There was, they claim, no political motive, since those terms were flagged not because of the particular political leanings, but because of the large number of applications, it was convenient to sort out these terms.

Using the search tool on the IRS's Exempt Organizations Select Check website, I find that there are about ten times as many tax-exempt organizations with the word "progressive" in their name than such organizations with either "tea party" or "patriot" in their name. Why do I suspect that these organizations were not also set aside in their own file for extra scrutiny?

[Dusty]

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/...ee_722149.html

[medic&commo]

Originally Posted by Team Sergeant

WHAT DOES IT MATTER NOW!!!!!!!!!!!

TS, you took the thoughts right out of my mind.
This Administration is good for getting a pass for anything up to & including murder.
m&c

[Paragrouper]

Originally Posted by Dusty

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/...ee_722149.html

A political appointee who knows who butters his bread, how unique.

I wonder if I need to prepare for my IRS audit/body cavity search too?

[Cobwebs]

Originally Posted by medic&commo

TS, you took the thoughts right out of my mind.
This Administration is good for getting a pass for anything up to & including murder.
m&c

HRC is well schooled in covering up murders..How about close friend committing suicide in the White House (Vince Foster) and never fully explained...or the timely death of James McDougal just months before he was going to be released from prison and ready to testify about the Rose Law Firm.... just a coincidence...these people play for keeps...(buy more ammo.