Paul Blumenthal reports for HuffPo. … Continue reading
Category Archives: tax law and election law
“Mistakes were made, but they were in no way due to any political or partisan motivation. We are — and will continue to be — dedicated to reviewing all applications for tax-exempt status in an impartial manner.” Acting IRS Commissioner … Continue reading
Stephen Spaulding blogs at Common Cause’s blog. … Continue reading
New Yorker: It is certainly true that the I.R.S., and every other part of the government, should be evenhanded in how it applies the law, regarding liberal and conservative groups alike. If left-leaning organizations were disguising their true purposes to … Continue reading
Political Wire reports. … Continue reading
Politico reports. … Continue reading
WaPo reports. … Continue reading
WaPo reports. … Continue reading
Important CPI report. … Continue reading
The Atlantic reports. … Continue reading
Bloomberg reports. … Continue reading
Bloomberg reports. … Continue reading
Andy Kroll writes for Mother Jones. … Continue reading
Pro Publica: 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 … Continue reading
Ed Board: The Internal Revenue Service was absolutely correct to look into the abuse of the tax code by political organizations masquerading as “social welfare” groups over the last three years. The agency’s mistake — and it was a serious … Continue reading
HuffPo reports. … Continue reading
NYT: Over the last two years, government watchdog groups filed more than a dozen complaints with the Internal Revenue Service seeking inquiries into whether large nonprofit organizations like those founded by the Republican political operative Karl Rove and former Obama … Continue reading
WaPo: “Internal Revenue Service officials in Washington and at least two other offices were involved in the targeting of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status, making clear the effort reached well beyond the branch in Cincinnati that was initially blamed, according … Continue reading
WaPo reports. … Continue reading
NLJ reports. … Continue reading
Josh Barro for Bloomberg View. … Continue reading
BuzzFeed reports. … Continue reading
Peter Overby reports for NPR. … Continue reading
I agree with this. … Continue reading
AP: “The Internal Revenue Service says acting IRS Commissioner Steven T. Miller was first informed in May 2012 that tea party groups were inappropriately targeted for scrutiny. A month later he wrote a member of Congress to explain the process … Continue reading
“The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has been for several months examining on a bipartisan basis whether the IRS has adequately enforced rules regarding the extent to which tax exempt nonprofit 501(c)4 groups engage in partisan politics. We had tentatively planned … Continue reading
Here. … Continue reading
notice the almost exclusive focus on the other wrongs Democracy 21 has called out in the past, and no endorsement of hearings on the targeting of conservative groups: [NOTE: See update at end of post.] Statement of Democracy 21 President … Continue reading
I spoke with Warren Olney on “To the Point” about the IRS Mess (listen at 1:42 mark). … Continue reading
Roll Call reports. … Continue reading
WaPo reports. … Continue reading
Press release: Common Cause called Monday for hearings in the US House and Senate to explore the Internal Revenue Service’s admission that it targeted certain groups for review, as well as the broader problem of the agency’s lax enforcement of … Continue reading
Kevin Drum: Here’s the thing that really puzzles me about this whole business of the IRS targeting tea party groups for extra scrutiny: the agency’s clumsy handling of the whole thing. And I’m being charitable by calling it “clumsy.” I … Continue reading
Here. … Continue reading
Reuters reports. … Continue reading
NYT: The head of the division on tax-exempt organizations, Lois Lerner, was briefed on the effort in June 2011, seemingly contradicting her assertion on Friday that she learned of the effort from news reports. But the audit shows that she … Continue reading
WaPo on the Cincinnati office and whether they were “low level” employees: At various points over the past two years, Internal Revenue Service officials singled out for scrutiny not only groups with “tea party” or “patriot” in their names but … Continue reading
Klein Douthat … Continue reading
WSJ: “Government investigators have found that the Internal Revenue Service scrutinized conservative groups for raising political concerns over government spending, debt and taxes or even for advocating making America a better place to live, according to new details likely to … Continue reading
Hot Air has the docs. More here and here. … Continue reading
WaPo: An inspector general’s report due for release this week says senior Internal Revenue Service officials knew that agents were targeting conservative groups for special scrutiny as early as 2011, nine months before the IRS commissioner assured Congress the targeting … Continue reading
With great appreciation and thanks to Paul Streckfus and his EO Tax Journal (subscription required), here are the relevant remarks which started yesterday’s controversy: Lois Lerner’s Response to Tea Party Question In response to a question about the IRS’s handling … Continue reading
Both the White House and Senator Levin have joined Republicans in calling for an investigation. The only ones missing from the calls so far? The campaign reform groups. … Continue reading
Roll Call reports. … Continue reading
I’ve posted it here. … Continue reading
NYT reports. … Continue reading
Aaron Blake writes. … Continue reading
Ezra Klein writes. … Continue reading
IRS Statement: Between 2010 and 2012, the IRS saw the number of applications for section 501(c)(4) status double. As a result, local career employees in Cincinnati sought to centralize work and assign cases to designated employees in an effort to … Continue reading
If the IRS is going to apologize for singling out some groups on a political basis for special scrutiny, why wouldn’t it do so in an official public document, instead of in response to a question at a conference where … Continue reading