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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
I've yet to see any evidence tea party groups were put under any more scrutiny than any other group. The contrary, in fact. Or any evidence that what they did crossed any line. Furthermore, groups shouldn't abuse tax exempt status.
Once again, I repeat that the only group investigated to be denied tax exempt status was liberal. (Can someone find those sources that got linked a while back to back me up?)
edited 28th May '13 7:21:39 PM by DrTentacles
Double posting to cite at least one source:
Edit: A second, though it's yahoo so...yeah.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/irs-targeted-tea-party-groups-did-liberal-groups-172738397.html
Third Source:
http://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/the_other_irs_scandal.php?page=all
edited 28th May '13 7:28:42 PM by DrTentacles
rollin' on dubs
A Crisis of Authority
, WSJ.com.
The IRS Scandal, Day 19
, TaxProf Blog.
Groups Targeted by I.R.S. Tested Rules on Politics
, at that rightwing blog the www.nytimes.com:
—-
And agency officials have acknowledged that specialists inappropriately used keywords like “Tea Party” and “Patriots” in searching through applications.
edited 28th May '13 7:31:15 PM by TairaMai
I tried to walk like an Egyptian and now I need to see a Cairo practor....I'm seeing a lot of inflammatory (anti-tax, no less) rhetoric from the WSJ, but little to back up their claims the tea party was somehow surpressed, or unfairly targeted. They haven't addressed the fact that liberal groups were denied (more of them, in fact), or that there's been a massive flood of groups trying to abuse tax exempt status. Though by the tone of the WSJ article, I'm assuming that tricking the IRS is fair play in their eyes.
(Also, could you skim, and respond to my links?)
Alright. So they subjected Tea Party groups (which according to sources I've seen, tended to push for tax exempt status unjustly than other orgs-and for "patriot's groups." First thing, of the list I linked, there were some liberal groups with Patriot in the name. Secondly, that makes this "scandal" closer to racial profiling than political persecution. Which is still bad, but it's an entirely different spin. lastly, I've seen no evidence that they were at all infringed, harassed, or suppressed, other than getting more scrutiny. And frankly, these are the same people who claim "if you're not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to hide." The patriot act is fine, but additional scrutiny on groups that have in the past attempted to abuse tax-exempt status isn't?)
edited 28th May '13 7:36:30 PM by DrTentacles
These were groups whose "social work" activities that exempted them from paying more taxes included making sure Obama was a one-term president, by the admission of their own marketing materials. The only problem is that the IRS had to investigate them at all; there are a bunch of other better-suited federal government agencies that should be doing the job of tax fraud investigation in such cases, and they're currently floundering under the sequester and a lack of appointments.
And the flat tax is, has always been, and remains a terrible idea.
Share it so that people can get into this conversation, 'cause we're not the only ones who think like this.
rollin' on dubs
The problem here is that some in this administration used gov'ment funds for a personal vendetta. Nixon was almost impeached for what yose guys are saying that the Tea Party was "asking for". Even Jon Stewart doesn't like this mess.
I like a flat tax because the tax code (as it stands) is more about political corruption run amok than "fairness" (A silly game, the only winning move is not to play).
The sequester had nothing to do with the investigation of these groups, this happened for years before Obama took office.
What If the Next President Is Even Worse
? Asks Ron Fournier of the National Journal.
You don't like Bush, imagine Bush (or Obama) 2.0 with PATRIOT ACT, a limp Congress and the IRS snooping around.
The tl;dr of the article: fight abuses of power. It's time to pull some of the gov'ments fangs.
I tried to walk like an Egyptian and now I need to see a Cairo practor....Even flat tax could be used on political corruption, various deduction and exemption could be added to it. And Progressive Income tax could also be simplified. Flat Tax didn't guarantee "fairness" nor "simplicity".
And if gov fangs pulled; who have fangs sharp enough to stop charity malfeasance, campaign corruption and corporate tax avoidance ?
IRS investigation because Congressmen complain whether some "charity" is actually political group, IRS low-level employee got lazy and investigate charity with political-sounding name. Its not deliberate "government persecution" or "personal vendetta".
There's not really anything vendetta-ish about the IRS investigating obvious groups trying to fraudulently evade taxes as non-political entities when they're blatantly political. The sudden surge of Tea Party groups happened to be among those investigated because, empirically, they were some of the most prone to trying (and once again, the only one denied was of the opposite stripe). If you have a sudden surge of groups all named roughly the same thing and all trying to do shady business with you at once, you keep an eye out for those names, party be damned.
If anything, the only thing the IRS did wrong was let every single one of them get away with it.
edited 29th May '13 1:23:23 AM by Pykrete
Deathpigeon, anarchists are too few and too rare on their own, and they often don't vote as a matter of principle. Ergo,no one gives a crap about pandering to them, unless they're in the form of a Trade Union or something equally lobby-ish.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.Unions often are more harmful than helpful. They usually defend priviledges to "death", often dooming employees as, for example, Polish miners are not in demand anymore since it is cheaper to import coal from South America. That happens in country that has the biggest deposits of coal in Europe if you don't count Russia. And of course, those who benefit the most from priviledges are people in the management of the unions, not employees who actually work their asses.
My President is Funny Valentine.In other words Bachmann is dropping out now that she realizes that no amount of money and gerrymandering can make up for the fact that she is insane. I doubt she will hold elected office beyond the local level, Minnesota is too moderate to elect her to the Senate. I'm guessing she might try for an internal GOP position.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.For those confused by the previous post (you can't gerrymander a Senate election), Bachmann is dropping out of the House election, since she would likely lose against Graves in 2014. She never stood a serious chance against Al Franken in the Senate race, anyhow.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman@Katsura: and a hundred to one, that south american coal is only cheaper because the workers work in a deathtrap and their employers wont give a shit when they die of black lung nor have any financial obligation to care about that.
You want to make Polish coal cheaper? then get rid of all human rights coal workers have and force them to work 18 hours with no ventilation for half a dollar a day.
edited 29th May '13 7:09:54 AM by Midgetsnowman
Nonethelerss, my point was that the reason coal is cheaper to get from some countries is because coal's a helluva lot cheaper when you get it from somewhere where basic precautions against mines exploding or black lung disease or overwork arent required by law.
Its got less to do with "greedy unions" and more to do with the fact unions prevent companies from exploiting workers.
True. But you also just agreed that "greedy unions" probably do have something to do with it. And, as it is much harder to change something outside of the country, you look at what you can change within the country.
Yu hav nat sein bod speeling unntil know. (cacke four undersandig tis)the cake is a lie!I would totally be interested in the feasability of a pact that requires countries to have certain workers' health and safety provisions or, y'know, sanctions so they can't sell the goods. Only, I can see a lot of angry people there from the disruptions in world trade that would cause, including those it would be intended to help - would probably have to be phased in gradually.
She of Short Stature & Impeccable Logic My Skating Liveblog

More Tea Party groups were put under the microscope.
The fact that we are even having this conversion should be sickening. No group, no matter how repugnant to you or me, should be the target of the IRS simply because some mook doesn't like them. The IRS should be apolitical, but it ain't. If some democrats and use it, when the worm turns the GOP will squeeze the Idiot Ball.
The IRS needs reform, it should not enter politics. I'm with Glenn Reynolds, flat tax baby! Sent the taxman into the history books.
I tried to walk like an Egyptian and now I need to see a Cairo practor....