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Full IRS Inspector General Report On "Inappropriate" Targeting Of Conservative Groups
We are currently reading through the just released 54 page report from the IRS' Acting Deputy Inspector General Michael McKenney, but for now here are the key excerpts from the findings section.
From Inappropriate Criteria Were Used to Identify Tax-Exempt Applications for Review
The mission of the IRS is to provide America’s taxpayers top quality service by helping them understand and meet their tax responsibilities and by applying the tax law with integrity and fairness to all. According to IRS Policy Statement 1-1, IRS employees accomplish this mission by being impartial and handling tax matters in a manner that will promote public confidence. However, the criteria developed by the Determinations Unit gives the appearance that the IRS is not impartial in conducting its mission. The criteria focused narrowly on the names and policy positions of organizations instead of tax-exempt laws and Treasury Regulations. Criteria for selecting applications for the team of specialists should focus on the activities of the organizations and whether they fulfill the requirements of the law. Using the names or policy positions of organizations is not an appropriate basis for identifying applications for review by the team of specialists.
* * *
The Determinations Unit developed and used inappropriate criteria to identify applications from organizations with the words Tea Party in their names. These applications (hereafter referred to as potential political cases) were forwarded to a team of specialists for review. Subsequently, the Determinations Unit expanded the criteria to inappropriately include organizations with other specific names (Patriots and 9/12) or policy positions. While the criteria used by the Determinations Unit specified particular organization names, the team of specialists was also processing applications from groups with names other than those identified in the criteria. The inappropriate and changing criteria may have led to inconsistent treatment of organizations applying for tax-exempt status. For example, we identified some organizations’ applications with evidence of significant political campaign intervention that were not forwarded to the team of specialists for processing but should have been. We also identified applications that were forwarded to the team of specialists but did not have indications of significant political campaign intervention. All applications that were forwarded to the team of specialists experienced substantial delays in processing. Although the IRS has taken some action, it will need to do more so that the public has reasonable assurance that applications are processed without unreasonable delay in a fair and impartial manner in the future.
The Determinations Unit developed and began using criteria to identify potential political cases for review that inappropriately identified specific groups applying for tax-exempt status based on their names or policy positions instead of developing criteria based on tax-exempt laws and Treasury Regulations.
According to media reports, some organizations were classified as I.R.C. § 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations but operated like political organizations. Soon thereafter, according to the IRS, a Determinations Unit specialist was asked to search for applications with Tea Party, Patriots, or 9/12 in the organization’s name as well as other “political-sounding” names. EO function officials stated that, in May 2010, the Determinations Unit began developing a spreadsheet that would become known as the “Be On the Look Out” listing (hereafter referred to as the BOLO listing),15 which included the emerging issue of Tea Party applications. In June 2010, the Determinations Unit began training its specialists on issues to be aware of, including Tea Party cases. By July 2010, Determinations Unit management stated that it had requested its specialists to be on the lookout for Tea Party applications. In August 2010, the Determinations Unit distributed the first formal BOLO listing. The criteria in the BOLO listing were Tea Party organizations applying for I.R.C. § 501(c)(3) or I.R.C. § 501(c)(4) status. Based on our review of other BOLO listing criteria, the use of organization names on the BOLO listing is not unique to potential political cases.16 EO function officials stated that Determinations Unit specialists interpreted the general criteria in the BOLO listing and developed expanded criteria for identifying potential political cases.17 Figure 3 shows that, by June 2011, the expanded criteria included additional names (Patriots and 9/12 Project) as well as policy positions espoused by organizations in their applications.
Determinations Unit employees stated that they considered the Tea Party criterion as a shorthand term for all potential political cases. Whether the inappropriate criterion was shorthand for all potential political cases or not, developing and using criteria that focuses on organization names and policy positions instead of the activities permitted under the Treasury Regulations does not promote public confidence that tax-exempt laws are being adhered to impartially. In addition, the applications for those organizations that were identified for processing by the team of specialists experienced significant delays and requests for unnecessary information that is detailed later in this report.
* * *
While the team of specialists reviewed applications from a variety of organizations, we determined during our reviews of statistical samples of I.R.C. § 501(c)(4) tax-exempt applications that all cases with Tea Party, Patriots, or 9/12 in their names were forwarded to the team of specialists.
We determined this through two statistical samples of 338 (7.5 percent) from a universe of 4,510 I.R.C. § 501(c)(4) tax-exempt applications filed during May 2010 through May 2012 that were not forwarded to the team of specialists. See Appendix I for details on our sampling methodology.
* * *
The team of specialists stopped working on potential political cases from October 2010 through November 2011, resulting in a 13-month delay, while they waited for assistance from the Technical Unit. Figure 5 illustrates significant events and delays concerning potential political cases. For a comprehensive timeline of events related to potential political cases, see Appendix VII.
* * *
After receiving draft guidance in November 2011, the team of specialists began sending requests for additional information in January 2012 to organizations that were applying for tax-exempt status. For some organizations, this was the second letter received from the IRS requesting additional information, the first of which had been received more than a year before this date. These letters requested that the information be provided in two or three weeks (as is customary in these letters) despite the fact that the IRS had done nothing with some of the applications for more than one year. After the letters were received, organizations seeking tax-exempt status, as well as members of Congress, expressed concerns about the type and extent of questions being asked. For example, the Determinations Unit requested donor information from 27 organizations that it would be required to make public if the application was approved, even though this information could not be disclosed by the IRS when provided by organizations whose tax-exempt status had been approved. Figure 7 shows an example of requests sent to organizations applying for tax-exempt status regarding donors.
As part of this effort, EO function Headquarters office employees reviewed the additional information request letters prepared by the team of specialists and identified seven questions that they deemed unnecessary. Subsequently, the EO function instituted the practice that all additional information request letters for potential political cases be reviewed by the EO function Headquarters office before they are sent to organizations seeking tax-exempt status. In addition, EO function officials informed us that they decided to destroy all donor lists that were sent in for potential political cases that the IRS determined it should not have requested. Figure 8 lists the seven questions identified as being unnecessary.
* * *
And so on.
Full report below
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+ 1
VATs in Europe and Peru did not replacement income taxes.
In the EU they're in addition to income taxes.
Please people, don't give them any talking points....
.
...absolutely fucking nothing.
you had me at abolishing the income tax....
then you took my breath away with ......absolutely fucking nothing.
Seeing you two together again warms my jaded heart but I must say it... I miss Curly.
A Vat Tax would most certainly allow for a much bigger Government, for sure. The taxpayers would be told the "Need for a big Vat Tax increase is necessary for more Government programs and defense, and it wouldn't cost them anything, as the evil producers will pay it."
Humm? Start a war and mark it up by the Vat Rate? DoD would be in tall clover. And for the war industry, wow, mark the price of the tools of the trade up by Vat percent and add the margin to the higher number!
Reminds me of Jimmy's "Windfall Profits Tax" on oil producers back in the 70's. Up went the price at the pump, and J6P sat there in line scratching his head, muttering to himself, "We showed them!". But hey, if $9 gas works everywhere else, why not Vat it here?
And it would go over overwhelmingly, no? Like two wolves and a sheep voting on what's for dinner, maybe?
Of course, the price of everything the consumer buys would skyrocket, but he would never "get it."
As for enforcement, what new .Gov agency would handle that? IRS could be changed to DIRHC, "Department of Inland Revenue and Health Care?" Wow, imagine 20% Vat on Pelosicare!
s/0
Taxation by any force is Theft. Vat or otherwise.
This reminds me of the Stanford Prison experiment for some reason.
People start acting like the roles they are given and before you know it the whole charade becomes real. Scary shit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment
Depends who the people are. Some people are not sociopathic brainless twats.
Audit the Clintons, Bushes, Bernankes and Obamas or no deal.
This gets better.....
https://www.propublica.org/article/irs-office-that-targeted-tea-party-al...
The same IRS office that deliberately targeted conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status in the run-up to the 2012 election released nine pending confidential applications of conservative groups to ProPublica late last year.
The IRS did not respond to requests Monday following up about that release, and whether it had determined how the applications were sent to ProPublica.
In response to a request for the applications for 67 different nonprofits last November, the Cincinnati office of the IRS sent ProPublica applications or documentation for 31 groups. Nine of those applications had not yet been approved—meaning they were not supposed to be made public. (We made six of those public, after redacting their financial information, deeming that they were newsworthy.)
And just to add to this here is the proof those application leaks weren't politically motivated and ProRepublica's now making this a big news event is because of they are champions of the free press and not biased Obama shills just covering their ass now.
Here is a story they ran on one of the six they made public.
https://www.propublica.org/article/controversial-dark-money-group-among-...
In a confidential 2010 filing, Crossroads GPS — the dark money group that spent more than $70 million from anonymous donors on the 2012 election — told the Internal Revenue Service that its efforts would focus on public education, research and shaping legislation and policy.
The group's application for recognition as a social welfare nonprofit acknowledged that it would spend money to influence elections, but said "any such activity will be limited in amount, and will not constitute the organization's primary purpose."
Not only that but ProRepublica posted their full IRS tax exempt form (with redactions) online. I wonder if that is illegal while we are at it?
https://www.propublica.org/documents/item/537045-crossroads-gps-applicat...
Obviously caught with their hands in the cookie jar...'but it was left open!' All that scandal driven D.C. does is obfuscate the real problems by offering distractions while more rights and freedoms are extinquished...
This article on Alternet purports to show that all an overworked and understaffed IRS was doing was its job..
’The Real Scandal: Official Washington Goes Nuts Over IRS Doing Its Job’
Voter intimidation groups say they were intimidated by the IRS.
http://bit.ly/129F4G6
Thanks Dewey. Keep those posts a coming: we always give your insightful legal expertise the highest 'mark'...
IRS policy = Guilty until Proven Otherwise = Absolute Power = Corrupts, Absolutely.
Case dismissed.
Take steps thusly.
Had Planned Parenthood, Move On, Media Matters, and other "Progressive" institutions or individuals been subjected to this treatment the IRS would have already been thoroughly cleansed of all unrighteousness. The hypocrisy and double standards of this country and what passes for "leadership" is a damned disgrace. The fucking Justice department itself is the source of several of these scandals, hence NO JUSTICE in this fucked up Corporate Conglomerate of America.............
+1 ... How else do you think Holder kept his job? His willingness to deal in a double standard of justice has been on display for a long time. The ends justify the means.
.
He's a top notch unvestigation specialist.
Nothing new here. Just that now we temporarily have alternate sources of info, instead of the "Big Three" filter protected media we had for generations.
The corruption has always been there.
IRS will fix it though. It'll petition to have "Internet Oversight" added to it's duties, along with "Political Organization Purification" and "Pelosi Care Lobotomy Mandates."
So … you want to be tax exempt but you don’t want to be scrutinized to see if you qualify for the status of a tax exempt entity …… Can’t wait for the down votes on this one, but can anyone here play the devils advocate and put it into words better than I can????
Political views should not be the deciding factor in who does or does not get audited.........
+1 agree
The problem isn't that they were blanket denying every political organization - it's that they were rubber stamping the statist groups and making every other group walk over hot coals.
+1 agree
Ronald Regan would have defintely made the list:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhYJS80MgYA
The Founding Fathers have made that list. They turn in their graves. We are dealing with traitors. They are insidious underminers of the constitution and the IRS is the neon highway billboard advertising their 5th column deception.
Revolt!
What is really amusing is all the indignation over the DOJ getting the telephone records of those Asociated Press reporters. "How dare he do that" "What does the administration think we are! Republicans or Conservatives?!" The AP was perfectly happy to carry water for the Adminsitration when it was screwing the Right but now that their OX has been gored and they are afraid of losing all their "confidential" sources it is the Richstag Fire on Pennsylvania Avenue.
You'll know the worms have really turned when all the dirt they got put away on Obama and crew starts getting displayed by the MSM.
The presser today was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. Carney got his ass handed to him.
Fart bongo does it again. Somehow manages to make his far right agenda appear super leftist. It's a witch hunt! Rally the tards! This is exactly why he was elected.
It's all clear now. A bunch of low level grunts got creative and decided to go after those horrible tea party people, because as we all know, tea party people are lazy, dishonest, and driven by one thing only, the preservation of their entitlements ...
Of course, this was all in the best intersts of the country. Personal initiative, that's the American Way ! Just like Fast N F-rious and Be-ghazi. The low level clerks are always improvising.
Mr. Holder of course was too busy spying on Reporters to have been involved in this ...
Low level bureaucratic clerks are the cause of this. No doubt progressives, someone give them an 8th place trophy......Or is that racist?.......
No, not razzist at all.
It's pure social justice or some such unintelligible shit to give every last participant a trophy so that everybody knows its officially all meaningless anyway For Fuck's Sake.
I don't know what you all are upset about. Tea Party is a political action group. PAC's are scrutinized by the IRS. Game over.
Read up dumbass ...
Did you get lost on your way to HuffPo?
SLOW DOWN ON SHORTING TREASURIES A BIT, BUT INCREASE YOUR TREASURIES SHORTS ON ANY RALLY!
If you guys do not nixonize obama, you are all woossies.
Nixon was Mary Poppins compared to this guy.
Ever live in Chicago ?
Tee he
Ah the good old days of Hizzohor, Dah Ma-ah Daley
At least the fucking place ran, unlike these modern days
It doesn't matter if it ran.
We have reached the end of that kind of thinking, and we will be very lucky if our species survives it.
If something is wrong, make it stop. We don't have any other choices.
.
No kidding. Nixon was actually somewhat concerned about getting caught.
LOL
Concerned about being caught...
Oh my God, how far we have fallen.
Priceless
LOL. GOOD ONE
The leaked IRS and AP issues are diabolically concocted and sneakily timed to displace public interest in, and intimidate news agency reseach into, the real continuing issue of the day, to wit, is the coverup of an otherwise preventable murder of an ambassador and 3 others more or less impeachable than sharing a cigar with a girl in a room next to the oval office.
Whatever. The moon bats running this up the flagpole to see if anyone will salute it.
Bengahzi is a Nothingburger. It was a CIA/NATO/EU coup. They got what was coming to them. And holy shit, they lied about!
That talking point is straight out of Carney's presser today.
When you call for help,
I will not come.
Stay tuned. I believe this story is far from over and the rest will come out when Gen Petraus goes under oath.
Ha ha
If he don't get Vince Fostered first...
In Vichy DC, oaths carry as much weight as last week's TV listings.
Three more years worth of damage from the worst government anyone could imagine- and then- the dipshits will vote in another cadre of self seeking fuckers.
Got passports?
Vote? There hasn't been a legitimate vote since JFK was assasinated.
New IRS call tree:
Press 1 for health insurance questions
Press 2 for tax questions
Press 3 to report inappropriate targeting
Press 4 to suggest a target
Get out if you can.
All future anti-Obama-Steven Miller-Eric Holder-Hillary-Napolitano-et al complaints and allegations will shortly be referred to the soon-to-be-announced uber-agency, The Department of Just Us.
You know if this kind of shit were going on in a publicly traded company they would be shut down and the company heads would be facing jail time. The fact that it's a government agency, namely the IRS, we generally hear a loud yawn. Remember, you grew up hearing tyranny was always lurking. You should reject those voices because zerO said so.
Jail time for execs is so last century.
All too true.
Really?
What about the Morgue and Goldilocks?
come on...
.
That sounds more mythical than flying unicorns.
All these scandals are more sleight of hand. There are more sinister things going on these days. Even an Obama impeachment could be a distraction. New world order! World domination by a very few. To top it off they are Placating the poor people with free shit in entitlements and the rich with free shit in the form of perma-up markets. They'll just kill the rest
I was thinking this too, and don't forget the top-secret "Trans-Pacific Partnership".
This is the same IRS that will be the enforcer for Obamacare.
The government shakedown shotgun... http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2010/02/05/the-irs-shotgun/
I disaprove of them disaproving us disaproving them.
I sleep much better today knowing I have done the right thing the past 5 years when it comes to the IRS. Whether my sheep peers agree , is a different question
Don't worry, citizens. We're never going to abuse these privileges.
Low level clerks caused this. Just as low income homeowners bought down the banking system.
The lowlifes are killing it for all the high powered people.
ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm What HASN'T the Obowel Movement lied about?
Killing Osama Bin Laden? Right?
Sorry, he lied about that. Panetta gave the order to strike when the Obowel Movement would not.
You were joking right?
"His pet turtle" would be the only correct answer I have ever gotten.
So what's this about his pet turtle?
Is it female, large and....
I'd best stop right there....
Da Obowel Mooment best kill dem sum Clarence Thomas quick!
I see a fall on the stairs any day now........
when all else fails, blame a bush appointee
Judge Napolitano Exposes Eric Holder And DOJ For ‘A Profound And Direct Assault On First Amendment’
from Fox News, via MichaelSavage4Prez:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_S7tmCcE-o&feature=player_embedded
Like anyone with a brain thinks the Obowel Movement gives two shits about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights......
I don't see much cooperation coming up next week between Republicans and Democrats on this situation concerning the debt ceiling.Is this going to roll over the markets?
If not, it will surely be the Republicans fault!
"Both parties are the same" ya know.........
Bullshit!
The sequester is the reason for the wildfires out west (seriously, some twat said that) and the sequester is the fault of the Republicans (Same twat another, who cares anymore to quote the Hillreee) And somebody else (maybe but somebody's on a roll) said the heads of the IRS are Bush appointees...
And there wouldn't be any Republicans left if not for Bush
So It's All Bush's Fault
Always has been, always will be and always whatever...
Now we know when we thought we heard "Hope and Change" what he really said was "Hopeless in Chains"
"Hoax and Chains" brutha, Hoax and Chains!
You know after all the information that's been released about the IRS targeting non profit conservative groups, using patriot, or small govt references I wonder if this goes beyond non profits. It also came to light that the IRS is going through emails, facebook, twitter etc. are the two related? I ask because for the first time in my life my return this year was unexplainable issued on April 9th then after not receiving it by the 15th I check the status again and it says "Alert! There was an issue with your tax return which may cause a delay in your refund." I have been using a CPA for years now to file my returns. I report every single cent of income. I know there is nothing wrong with my return or my income reporting. After several calls to the IRS one of the operators tells me it's been pulled for manual review. My question is WHY? Is it possible if your registered libertarian, or donated to Ron Paul in 2012, read ZH, post about tyranny or liberty or patriots on facebook your return is scrutinized more closely via a manual review by this same internal IRS UNIT? Has anyone else had their return pulled for manual review before? That visits the daily Paul or posts about any of the things that triggered the non profits to get extra attention? I'm curious to know.
Mark Zuckerburg's head/fingers/tongue is so far up the Obowel Movement's rectum that who would be surprised? Zucky looks like he's a bigger boan snuggler than Obowel is.......just sayin', not that there's anything wrong with that.....
as of 8:09 p.m. Eastern at least two rectum lickers have down arrowed my post!
That's the coward's way, instead of actually refuting something I wrote!
Thanks again!
Ticks, lice, leeches, fleas, bedbugs and other vermin need to be exterminated, and unfortunately it will take the blood of many modern day American Patriots to accomplish what needs to be done.........
Is that good enough for an audit?
Fuck the Obowel Movement, and anyone stupid enough to have been fooled by the National Socialist Party Media.
Now that the UTAH internet monitoring mega facility is coming online, expect them to earn their keep as they help our great leader achieve great things with his great unselfish and wise leadership. (darn...I can not turn the /sarc button off)
3 things to never say to the IRS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1UT2Ms5E2k
Hopefully all the useless eaters in Congress and this administration can spend the next few years in scandal circle jerk instead of passing a bunch of shittty bills trying to deprive us of our God-given rights.
Then when we get Jeb Bush running in '16 we can dredge up his role helping daddy run coke from Honduras to Slick Willy at Nema. The more these fuckers are disctracted from stealing our liberties the better.
BTW, maybe the AP will remove their lips from the political classes asses and start doing some actual investigative journalism about the corruption that infests the US government.
What HASN'T Obama lied about?
FLUSH THE OBOWEL MOVEMENT!
I'll bet someone has that on a T-Shirt in two weeks!
Marxist loving assholes.
I will outlive the IRS.
I will outlive the United States.
I will see a better world.
Didn't I read somewhere about a year ago that the IRS had bought a load of firearms and ammunition. I remember thinking how strange that was if true. Seems a lot less strange now though eh.
In the movies, the Indians used to say "white man speak with forked tongue" which is true. Then again, Obama, is exceeding in speaking with forked tongue.
It is time he was kicked out and held accountable. There are many in the US in jail for a lot less than the Commander in Chief and Nobel War Prize winner has done..
"I cannot criticize my employer, the goobermint, in this case. I am only a low-level employee who is bone ignorant, well-versed in sniffing ass crack, and talented at round-mouthing. I am only a cunt and nothing short of it." CB
Obiden to Obama (open mic): "This is a big fuckin' deal, Niggah ! "
Alright, I will ask a serious question of my fellow ZHer's. Let me preface this with a few details. I have never sold real estate before. I paid legal consideration for my Mother's property in 1999 and it is all in my name with the Register of Deeds now but most of that was done through an attorney. I am meeting with another local real estate agent on Friday to sell that money pit. I have been told that real estate sales are not taxed by the IRS. Who knows these days anymore? I stayed out of the real estate scam of the 2000's so I have no real estate selling or buying experience. Don't tell me to google it either like I have not done my own due diligence. I have a friend who is in the real estate business(not local) who actually came to the property and did the video I posted some time ago and explained the basics for me. I am only trying to verify.
That part I can muddle through on my own but the real question is the following one: I want cash and I assume that I will get a check and that check will be six figures plus. I'm not going to leave that in the Bank of Corzine, are you fucking kidding me? I realize the risks of having that much cash on hand regarding theft and such but I can mitigate that. What I am really worried about is the fact that if I ask the bank to order me 50K of cash, I will get on one of those .gov terrorist report watchlists. So I can only take out $9999 at a time to avoid the required suspicious activity withdrawal paperwork? Something tells me that they would probably file one anyway. The cash would be turned into PM's as I see fit which is something I do know how to do rather easily. So, what's the best workaround? I am beyond sick and tired of digitz and thieves. All I want to accomplish is to not own anything with a .gov title other than my fleet of shitmobiles and have as little money in digitz as possible without the pricks knowing where it went. Thoughts?
edit: The silence is deafening.
So I have a question. Is it worse to target a "group" or an "individual"?
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
I don't see the word group in there. Am I missing something? no not at all.