Posted on 05/06/2022 8:10:48 AM PDT by Kaslin
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse must think the American people have amnesia. At least that’s the impression I got while watching his Senate hearing on Wednesday, where he made the outrageous claim that the IRS never harassed or delayed the tax-exempt status of conservative groups back in 2013.
Of course, that’s not true. The U.S. Treasury Inspector General report found that “the IRS used inappropriate criteria to select tax-exempt applications for further review,” and the IRS admitted that approximately 75 percent of the nonprofits flagged were conservative-leaning.
Whitehouse’s blatant denial of this fact belies his distorted view that requiring nonprofits to disclose their donors will not lead to more targeting of conservatives or have a chilling effect on nonprofit donors who fear harassment or reprisal for their giving.
A more cynical take on Whitehouse and his allies' saber-rattling on this issue is that they know this sort of targeting will happen and, much like President Biden’s push for a Disinformation Governance Board, will mean a political advantage for Democrats.
On Wednesday, the Rhode Island senator’s lightly attended hearing centered on his favorite pet issue: so-called “dark money” in politics. As the Senator warned in a pre-hearing Tweet: “swarms of tax-exempt groups have been allowed to flood American politics with dark money, and our democracy is suffering for it.”
To fight these “swarms,” Whitehouse and his allies are backing legislation that would require nonprofit groups to disclose their donors, a policy that the Supreme Court recently ruled would violate the First Amendment freedom of association rights of donors.
Democrats also want to increase the IRS’s budget to conduct more audits of what Whitehouse called “spin cycle donations.” That’s where 501(c)4 nonprofit organizations spend 49.9% of a donor’s money on political activities, as they are allowed to by law, and then donate the rest of the money to another 501(c)4 to spend 49.9% of that donation and so on and so forth. The Senator and his witnesses provided little evidence that this “scheme” is widespread or an actual problem, but it sounds scary, and he has the flow charts to back it up.
Wednesday’s hearing was part of an ongoing charade for Whitehouse, and I’ve written about it before here. He regularly leads public circuses filled with flow charts and gaudy illustrations, deploring dark money but never admitting that tax-exempt groups aligned with Democrats funnel billions in donations to candidates on Whitehouse’s side of the aisle. The senator exclusively chastises Republicans or conservative organizations while acting naively oblivious to the recent New York Times report that dark money groups aligned with Democrats spent more than $1.5 billion throughout the 2020 presidential election.
Behind every major Democratic policy initiative - climate change, social justice, election reform - is a network of well-funded non-profit organizations and foundations staffed by losing campaign staffers and former advisors. They have names like Sixteen Thirty Fund, America Votes, League of Conservation Voters, Priorities USA, and the Voter Registration Project. Each is conducting precisely the type of First-Amendment protected advocacy that Whitehouse wants to stop.
The dark and shadowy, to use Whitehouse’s lingo, behemoth behind much of this funding is a group called Arabella Advisors - which doesn’t disclose its donors, wouldn’t you know. The Wall Street Journal describes the left’s web of dark money as “an empire managed by Arabella Advisors, a for-profit consulting firm founded by a Clinton administration alumnus who previously worked at the League of Conservation Voters—a “dark money heavyweight,” as the Center for Public Integrity puts it.”
Democrats have tried to use the IRS for decades to stifle conservative groups. The Institute for Free Speech’s Bradley Smith compiled a long list of Democrats, including Obama, Schumer, Durbin, Shaheen, and Merkely, who have all publicly pressured the IRS to investigate their political opponents, writing letters calling for investigations of specific conservative groups or pushing similar legislation to require donor disclosure.
Luckily, the Supreme Court recently ruled that such disclosure requirements are unconstitutional. As Chief Justice Roberts wrote in the majority opinion in Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta:
When it comes to the freedom of association, the protections of the First Amendment are triggered not only by actual restrictions on an individual’s ability to join with others to further shared goals. The risk of a chilling effect on association is enough, ‘[b]ecause First Amendment freedoms need breathing space to survive.’ Button, 371 U. S., at 433.
In that case, California’s donor requirements were struck down, and major left-leaning groups like the ACLU, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and the Human Rights Campaign sided with Americans for Prosperity against California’s law. Neither Whitehouse nor his allies have addressed why they disagree with these stalwart left-leaning groups on this issue because they know it harms their cause.
Senator Whitehouse’s grandstanding might make good politics for Democrats, but his argument is outside the law. It's time to call out Sheldon Whitehouse for his grandstanding. Those aren’t swarms, Senator; those are citizens, and their speech and their right to associate are protected.
They lie, the media confirms it, the public is stupid. Sorry, but they are.
Democrats blatantly lie because they know the Ministry of Propaganda will never fact check them.
I wonder how the investigation of 501c BLM is going for having not filed required IRS filings and paperwork?
And regarding rudderless and ungoverned BLM, HRC, her friend, Minyon Moore, and Marc Elias are on it like flies on a cow pie in their attempt to suck up as much donated money as they can!
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/revealed-clinton-world-takeover-of-black-lives-matter
When news of it broke, Lois Lerner came out and apologized for it. Then they claimed to be targeting both sides. After that narrative fell apart, some moved to “They deserved it”, and now it’s finally evolved back to “it never happened”
I wonder how the investigation of 501c BLM is going for having not filed required IRS filings and paperwork?
And regarding rudderless and ungoverned BLM, HRC, her friend, Minyon Moore, and Marc Elias are on it like flies on a cow pie in their attempt to suck up as much donated money as they can!
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/revealed-clinton-world-takeover-of-black-lives-matter
Whitehouse is a old family money moron (aka a “wanna-be Kennedy”) who has never really worked a day in his life
There is a simple way to stop the IRS from being weaponized. Abolish it. Replace income taxes, estate taxes and business taxes with a flat consumption tax. Everyone pays based on how much they spend. Rich people spend more, they pay more. Poor people spend less, they pay less. No business taxes at all. Cut all that unproductive labor, tax accountants and lawyers. There will never been a need for filing as a non-profit. There will never been another audit. The useless thugs at the IRS will be sent to the unemployment line and America will be the number one place to do business in the world because it has the lowest tax rate in the world - zero.
...he made the outrageous claim that the IRS never harassed...conservative groups. Of course, that’s not true.
I wonder what the “Ministry of Truth” has to say about this statement?
Inquiring minds wanna know.
Well IRS announced they won’t audit Joe Biden over Hunter’s business funding, loans, etc. A group of taxpayers asked IRS to audit Joe Biden (I guess you can do that as a taxpayer).
If you think irs targeting of normal people is bad now, just wait until they implement the decrepit old fool’s DGB.
https://www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/tax-compliance/news/21258572/irs-and-fbi-probe-hunter-biden-taxes
"Both the IRS and the FBI were eyeing Hunter Biden prior to the announcement, but this information wasn’t released until after the election. Because the Department of Justice is banned from affecting the outcome of an election, former Attorney General William Barr chose to delay the news. Trump had been a booster of Barr, who has since fallen into disfavor with the ex-president due to this decision.According to CNN and various other media sources, the investigation is far-ranging, including inquiries into potential tax violations resulting from Hunter Biden’s international dealings. Some of Biden’s connections have been linked to other investigations. For his part, Biden has acknowledged the reports as being vey serious, but has maintained that he is ”100% certain” that he will be exonerated.
Expect to hear more about this matter in the near future. We will continue to monitor developments."
The 'resident AKA the "big guy".
https://nypost.com/2022/04/18/biden-accountant-hit-with-irs-whistleblower-complaints-on-tax-day/
Note that there is a specific IRS IRM regarding who can audit and review the Presidents Tax Return. It does not go in the Big Pile with everyone else's return. It goes to a Dedicated office/agent.
Just one little flaw in your plan. Who is going to assure that the businesses collecting this new "sales" tax pay it into the new slimmed-down government coffers? You're naieve to think businesses now don't have chunks of the current sales and employment taxes sticking to their fingers. There will have to be some oversight and auditing.
No flaw in my plan. The states will collect the sales tax, just like they collect sales tax in 48 of 50 states. That question by the way has been asked by big government RINOs for along time. It is moronic. Yes, there are some question that are just plain stupid.
As a small business owner, I can tell you neither is really possible - because these remittances are already being audited at the state level. ConservativeInPA's plan is the only real way to restrain the out-of-control Federal Government.
Mr. Clueless Hypocrite All-White, elite exclusionary club member, opens his big kale hole again.
we need to use their same tactics on them come the day
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