Controversy over Welch and the John Birch Society continued into the 1960s, eliciting a response from President John F. Kennedy. During a trip to Los Angeles in 1961, Kennedy spoke of “discordant voices of extremism.” He said the real danger to the nation came from extremist elements within rather than from foreign powers without.The President was referring to the John Birch Society, which had begun to attract considerable press attention. When asked whether he thought it dangerous to the electoral process that large financial contributions were going to “right wing extremist” entities, Kennedy responded, “The only thing we should be concerned about is that it does not represent a diversion of funds which might be taxable for non-taxable purposes.
Days after this press conference, IRS Commissioner Mortimer H. Caplin launched a “test audit” of twenty-two organizations the administration considered “extremist.” The agency termed this the Ideological Organizations Audit Project.
“Lois Lerner, who heads the IRS unit that oversees tax-exempt groups, said organizations that included the words 'tea party' or 'patriot' in their applications for tax-exempt status were singled out for additional reviews,” USA Today reported at the time of her 2013 public apology.
Excellent review of the “progressive” taxation punitive to political conservative organizations and citizens. From JFK to Lois Lerner- using accountancy to badger and bash conservative political organizations who ought to be 501C 3 orgs and file a tax return for their “monitoring” NOT selective abusive and unbalanced auditing— making the existing “govt.” be an arbiter of public discourse.