Did contributing to Mitt Romney’s campaign last year cause the IRS to target you for an audit?
At the moment the data is anecdotal, but it appears that Coburn’s office might be accumulating some interesting information.
A former IRS worker points out that the law allows the immediate termination of any IRS worker who violates certain clear rules.
The rule is Section 1023 of the Internal Revenue Code. The violations pertaining to this scandal are these:
-(2) providing a false statement under oath with respect to a material matter involving a taxpayer or taxpayer representative;
-(3) with respect to a taxpayer, taxpayer representative, or other employee of the Internal Revenue Service, the violation of – (A) any right under the Constitution of the United States;
-(6) violations of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, Department of Treasury regulations, or policies of the Internal Revenue Service (including the Internal Revenue Manual) for the purpose of retaliating against, or harassing, a taxpayer, taxpayer representative, or other employee of the Internal Revenue Service;
-(7) willful misuse of the provisions of section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 for the purpose of concealing information from a congressional inquiry;
I like to say it isn’t what people say that counts, it is what they do. If President Obama was truly outraged about this scandal, he could do something about it. That he has not, and has in fact supported and promoted the key players at the IRS suggests instead that he is very happy with their performance.
Working for the Democratic Party: When IRS official Lois Lerner was head of the Federal Election Commission’s enforcement office in 1998, she was accused of stopping an investigation because Al Gore was involved.
Stonewalling: IRS official Lois Lerner invoked the Fifth amendment to Congress today, defiantly refusing to answer any questions.
Stonewalling: The IRS today failed to comply with a Congressional deadline to provide documents relating to the IRS scandal.
A detailed analysis of the IRS’s chain of command in Cincinnati, proving the harassment of conservatives came from high up the chain.
The article names names, and places them in the chain of command both in Cincinnati and in relation to Washington. The new key person in that chain is Cindy Thomas, who appears to have been at the top of the chain in Cincinnati, reported directly to Washington, and also was the person who signed off on the illegal release of data to ProPublica.
All of it makes the claims of the White House and the IRS that this was done by a few low-level rogue agents look absurd and dishonest.
Photos from various tea party protests across the nation today.
The protesters wearing targets on their backs were especially clever, considering the vicious attacks after the Tucson shootings two years ago against Sarah Palin for using tiny target graphics in some of her literature. Back then, Palin and conservatives got slimed for this irrelevant act, something they had nothing to do with the Tucson murders. Now, the IRS has made them real targets. And it both cases, they are innocent, doing nothing more than expressing their beliefs and ideas.
Pushback: Another conservative organization that was harassed by the IRS has filed suit against the tax agency.
IRS official Lois Lerner will invoke the Fifth Amendment when she testifies to Congress about the IRS’s harassment of conservatives.
She has the right to do this, but this action puts the lie to the Obama administration claim that no laws were broken in the IRS scandal. Her lawyer very clearly knows that she risks prosecution for breaking the law, and that is why he is advising her to invoke the Fifth.
Pushback: A California tea party group sued the IRS on Monday for its harassment of conservatives.
Seven liberal fascists who are fine with using the IRS to target their political enemies.
Lois Lerner of the IRS scandal apparently has a history of harassing conservative religious organizations when she was with the Federal Elections Commission.
Why the IRS scandal is the ugliest in U.S. history.
Why? Because you, the People, became the targets of a comprehensive federal government effort to stifle dissent, one made using the government’s overwhelming and disproportionate policing and taxing powers.
All of the other scandals, going back to Andrew Johnson’s post-Civil War scandals, Warren G. Harding’s 1920s Teapot Dome scandal, Nixon’s Watergate, Reagan’s Iran-Contra, and Clinton’s Oval Office sexcapades have actually been narrowly focused acts of cronyism, garden-variety political chicanery, or personal failings. It’s been insider stuff.
The IRS scandal, by contrast, is a direct attack on the American people. … Once a government gets the bit between its teeth and starts targeting special interest groups, that is the end of freedom, not just for those first groups targeted, but for everyone. [emphasis in original]
Such a misuse of government power must be dealt with. If we don’t do it, it will happen again, more forcefully, more violently, more viciously, and more effectively. Freedom will die.
The White House defends Sarah Hall Ingram, the person who had been in charge of the IRS office when it harassed conservatives organizations from 2009 to 2012 and now runs the IRS Obamacare office.
If President Obama was so outraged about this scandal, as he claims, you would think he’d tell his minions that it ain’t appropriate to defend this person. Instead, you’d think he’d be doing what he can to get her removed from a position of power.
Instead, Ingram received a promotion and the largest amount of bonuses of any IRS employee. Moreover, the bonuses from 2010 to 2012 were all greater than $25K per year and thus required Obama’s approval to be issued. And she is still in charge of the IRS Obamacare office.
Sounds to me that, to Obama, her harassment of conservatives at the IRS was a job well done.
Did the IRS audit the Claire Boothe Luce Policy Institute in its effort to harass conservatives from 2009 to 2011?
As with almost all of these IRS attacks, the audit found nothing while costing the audited organization or individual a fortune to defend themselves.
Working for the Democratic Party: Two separate IRS offices last year targeted the GOP’s Hawaii leader for audits and investigation.
The article describes how the IRS focused on harassing small organizations that could not defend themselves while leaving untouched the big organizations with the punch to fight back, the typical behavior of a bully. More important, the IRS did not simply focus on harassing all small organizations, only those whose political philosophies differed from that of the President and the Democratic Party.
In other words, as I like to say, they were working for the Democratic Party, using the tax code to harass and destroy its opponents. Truly corrupt, tyrannical, and vile.
Working for the Democratic Party: The IRS targeted the conservative Catholic League for investigation because its leader had dared to criticize a rival liberal religious organization.
Working for the Democratic Party: The IRS refused to grant tax exemption to a Christian conservative organization because they “criticized President Obama … and she said we did it when he was a candidate.”
A group of tea party organizations is preparing to sue the IRS for its harassment of conservatives. Key quote:
“We could lose everything. Today, it’s me and my organization, but tomorrow it could be you.”
