Posted on 05/11/2013 5:28:27 AM PDT by tobyhill
The Internal Revenue Service on Friday apologized for targeting groups with “tea party” or “patriot” in their names, confirming long-standing accusations by some conservatives that their applications for tax-exempt status were being improperly delayed and scrutinized.
Lois G. Lerner, the IRS official who oversees tax-exempt groups, said the “absolutely inappropriate” actions by “front-line people” were not driven by partisan motives.
Rather, Lerner said, they were a misguided effort to come up with an efficient means of dealing with a flood of applications from organizations seeking tax-exempt status between 2010 and 2012.
During that period, about 75 groups were selected for extra inquiry — including burdensome questionnaires and, in some cases, improper requests for the names of their donors — simply because of the words in their names, she said in a conference call with reporters.
They constituted about one-quarter of the 300 groups who were flagged for additional analysis by employees of the IRS tax-exempt unit’s main office in Cincinnati.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
One word - corruption.
“...the absolutely inappropriate actions by front-line people were not driven by partisan motives.”
Yeah, right.
That makes it all nice and cute, everyone apologizes, the misery inflicted on law-abiding citizens is disregarded, and everyone goes happily on his way.
Isn’t that sweet and airy and light-hearted.
/s/
IMHO
Resignations, then jail time.
Is that why the last time I called the IRS to see if my tax guy filed for my extension it took calling two separate numbers, painstaking navigation through voice menu hell, and an hour and fifteen minutes to speak with a live person? The lower level guys were creating forms for conservative groups to fill out and therefore could not answer the phone???
The amusing thing here, is that you could have called your organization ‘Cat Lovers of America’, whose only theme was Tea-Party activities, and they would have passed you on with no issues. A month later, you change your name to ‘Tea Party America’, and any movement by IRS would have been strictly illegal at that point.
I will say this....several individuals need to be let go by IRS. If they don’t take movement, then Congress needs to set up a committee and unseat each employee.
I personally think the admission and apology were an attempt to distract from Benghazi scandal but the white crib underestimated how serious it really is and now they have two major scandals to mismanage.
Substitute "color of their skin" for "words in their names" and it will become clear why this was so offensive.
So why would you have anything to fear from your government?
I know I’m not the first one here to note the astonishing coincidence that the IRS suddenly came clean on this just two days after the Benghazi hearings. But I think it’s worth repeating — we have seen over and over that Obama always has something bright and shiny he can throw in the air when the news gets a little rough for him.
Nah—just a dumb mistake. Nothing like what Nixon did. :)
WP actually has an editorial board post today condemning this IRS stuff and calling for investigations. I was shocked when I saw it last night.
Not cute, not funny. It is voter intimidation, harassment, and unreasonable search & seizure. I say prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.
One word:
Accountability.
Punishment.
OK; Two words.
People died.
What does it matter?
Office break-in?
Give 'em the chair!!
Got it.
The IRS has now proven to thinking Americans that it is an evil, rotten organization is league with this illegal administration. It deserves not only the contempt of Americans, but it must be starved to death. Civil disobedience must be directed against these muggers who abscond with our earnings and use them against this nation. Calling their spoils ‘taxpayer money’ is an insult to anyone with a functioning brain. (This, of course, excludes the idiotic Biden.)
The Obama administration has used the IRS as a political weapon. “The IRS may claim that it is ‘sorry,’ but given the damage that has been done, their apology is not accepted,” said Niger Innis, Chief Strategist for TheTeaParty.net.
How about the possibility of the Tea Party and other offended groups filing a civil suit in federal court against the IRS for violation of their First Amendment and federal statutory rights (Bivens action)? What kind of damages might be expected? How would the attendant publicity play out?
Seems to me that there would be a great reservoir of popular sympathy for the cause of the plaintiffs in such a case.
"patriot -one who loves his country" Webster`s dictionary 1887
The Obummer administration has now redefined the term "patriot" to mean the opposite of its definition.
We now define the Obummer administration as definitely anti-American for its very usage of the word "patriot" and its attempt to redefine it.
These SOB bastards will be defeated by the patriots.
Last year, the NY Times editorial board praised the IRS for targeting conservative groups.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/08/opinion/the-irs-does-its-job.html?src=tp&_r=0
Go figure....the old grey whore.
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