Update: you can't make this up
The senior IRS official briefing the press just said: "I'm not good at math."
— Zachary A. Goldfarb (@Goldfarb) May 10, 2013 [3]
In her defense, the IRS official, explained: "I'm a lawyer."
— Zachary A. Goldfarb (@Goldfarb) May 10, 2013 [4]
Just because you are a conservative and paranoid, doesn't mean the IRS is not after you. And, assuming the AP was not hacked again, this is precisely what happened. In a stunning disclosure, the supposedly impartial Internal Revenue Service has admitted and apologized for flagging and subjecting to extra reviews, conservative political groups - those that included the words "tea party" or "patriot" - during the 2012 election to see if they were violating their tax-exempt status. No such privilege was apparently afforded to groups identifying themselves as "liberal."
From AP [5]:
The Internal Revenue Service is apologizing for inappropriately flagging conservative political groups for additional reviews during the 2012 election to see if they were violating their tax-exempt status.
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.
Lerner said the practice, initiated by low-level workers in Cincinnati, was wrong and she apologized while speaking at a conference in Washington.
Many conservative groups complained during the election that they were being harassed by the IRS. They said the agency asked them an inordinate number of questions to justify their tax-exempt status.
Certain tax-exempt charitable groups can conduct political activities but it cannot be their primary activity.
It does make one wonder, just how far the IRS goes to make the lives of conservatives a living hell: will all 2012 tax audits be those who on their facebook profile admit to liking Ron Paul? And just how far does the IRS invade personal privacy to determine how any one tax filer is indeed, a "conservative?" But don't worry - aside from the obvious persecutions, America is a free country for one and all.
One wonders: how long until "conservatives" engage in "tax-avoiding" blowback and really give the IRS reason to persecute them. Alternatively, one wonders the IRS is simply limited by logistical considerations, due to the notional difference in number of actual tax filings submitted by "conservatives" vs "liberals" and the prepondrance of one group over the other...