IRS Scandal my ass: ....as more lawmakers demand that the actual law be upheld, the spotlight has turned onto social welfare groups expecting subsidies for their political work. Republicans paraded Tea Partiers in front of the cameras Tuesday to decry the “jackboot” of tyranny descending upon them via the IRS, never realizing that they are all in violation of the law. Republicans made a huge miscalculation in bringing national attention to the blatant abuse of the statute by some social welfare groups. The law is very clear: The group must be engaged exclusively in social welfare. In the hearings Monday, the IRS auditors explained that one of the troubling things they found was a failure to review groups that were intervening in political campaigns. If they want to play politics, they ought to organize a political effort. They shouldn’t be shielded from public disclosure by the 501(c)4 status where they get millions of dollars and not required to disclose and they’re definitely principally organized like the National Organization for Marriage was organized to assault efforts in California for marriage equality. It is blatantly political and we shouldn’t pretend otherwise. We should stop it. Echoing Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA), who asked during Tuesday’s hearing why Tea Party groups were expecting the taxpayer to subsidize their political activity, Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) decried the expectation that taxpayers should fund political activity, “I don’t believe the Internal Revenue Service, the Treasury Department, should be providing tax subsidies to organizations that are not engaged exclusively in social welfare. This congress was very clear on that point. Clear on it in 1913. And in repeated recodifications of 501(c)4. it says they must be operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare.” Not a single Tea Party group was silenced by the IRS. They have been able to operate subsidized by the American taxpayer even though they are in violation of the statute. No group from either side should be allowed to violate the law, and the IRS needs to get clear on what the statute actually says. Political organizations fall under section 527 of the federal tax code, and should not be subsidized by the American taxpayer. The interpretation was changed in the regulation of the law by the IRS, not in the actual statute. One of the recommendations of the IRS audit was to make sure that political activity does not constitute the primary activity of these organizations. Given the recommendations to review more groups and the President’s directives to the IRS to enact all recommendations of the audit, “social welfare” groups engaging in political activity should expect more scrutiny. Hey Tea Party, it’s not “tyranny” when we expect you to follow the law, and it’s not “tyranny” just because we don’t want to fund your dark money political activity. This may be an unintended consequence of loud, ignorant hubris. ~Sarah Jones~
Posted on: Thu, 06 Jun 2013 04:54:30 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015