Another “IRS Thing” Update
Some additional revelations regarding the ongoing IRS scandal that came out in the past 24 hours:
- USA Today reports that an analysis of statistics regarding political groups applying for tax-exempt status shows clear bias against conservative and in favor of liberal groups on the part of the IRS from 2009-2011. Organizations whose titles self-identified them as conservative organizations were slow-rolled; organizations whose titles self-identified them as liberal were apparently expedited.
- Close to 500 groups appear to have been targeted by the IRS, and maybe more. The Administration originally claimed 75..
- A prominent Catholic academic was audited by the IRS in 2010 after publicly opposing Administration allies and/or policies. She was asked “who was paying her”; attempts were made to keep her husband, with whom she files jointly, from being present at the audit. Many of the questions asked at the audit were reportedly of a political vice financial nature.
- One of the co-chairmen of the POTUS’s re-election committee has been accused of receiving and using unlawfully leaked IRS information against Mitt Romney.
- Among the information requested by the IRS from conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status were donor rolls, copies of Facebook posts, resumes, descriptions of media interviews, what issues the group considered “important to them”, copies of web pages, copies of blog posts, and in at least one case members’ recent reading preferences. The IRS also asked at times if anyone in a conservative group applying for tax-exempt status knew other selected individuals – by name.
- The IRS cursory, “scratch the surface” IG Investigation into the issue itself is titled “Inappropriate Criteria Were Used to Identify Tax-Exempt Applications for Review”.
- Even Chuck Rangel – himself hardly a shining example of ethical conduct himself – has publicly stated that the Presidents answers to date have been lacking.
- The Chairman of the House Ways and Means committee ain’t too happy about being lied to during Congressional testimony by a top IRS officials, including a former Director..
- Lower-level IRS employees in Cincinnati apparently have stated “”they simply did what their bosses ordered”. And there appear to be at least four Cincinnati IRS employees involved – not two, as the Administration has claimed.
- Letters have surfaced sent from offices in DC and California to conservative groups that appear to be ideologically-based harassment.
But again, folks: “don’t worry – be happy”. Everything is under control. The Administration has only your best interests in mind. They have investigated the matter and found that all this IRS brouhaha was due to “two ‘rogue’ employees in the agency’s Cincinnati office”.
Yeah. Right. If you believe that last claim, I have this bridge. And I can make you a really great deal on it.
Category: "Your Tax Dollars At Work", Crime, Politics
And the hits keep coming.
You need to be a bit more creative with the title of the posts so that we can keep them all straight. How about some of these as examples?
1. That IRS Thing III; Audit With A Vengeance
2. That IRS Thing IV: I Know What You Did Last Election
3. That IRS Thing V: The President Who Shagged The Country
4. That IRS Thing VI: Escape From Accountability
5. That IRS Thing VII: Attack of the Auditers
More to follow, as the scandal grows.
Given this, Benghazi , and the surveillance done on theAP, I just wonder if the liberal media is as aroused as they appear, or are they just going to give it a few more days of lip service and return to kissing the 0bamatollah’s arse and feet?
“But again, folks: “don’t worry – be happy”. Everything is under control. The Administration has only your best interests in mind. They have investigated the matter and found that all this IRS brouhaha was due to “two ‘rogue’ employees in the agency’s Cincinnati office”…You are right in your tongue-in-cheek assessment. The administration has their best interest under control…only. The duck and cover has started. The oval office desk just won’t be big enough to hide under this time. With the illegal wire taps and Benghazi this is truly Obama’s Watergate(s). I just hope the right and now some of the left coming out, hang in there and get him for the full responsibility of these issues.
Barack Milhous Nixobama…
The 0bamatollah….
Said it before, say it again–had this been 2005 with Bush in the WH, with the similar stories breaking, every media outlet in the country would be screaming for Articles of Impeachment YESTERDAY.
Yeah, I know, I know–no surprise the only sound we’re hearing are crickets.
And not to forget about the hundreds of murdered Mexican citizens whose blood is on the hands of Eric Holder and Barack Obama because of their attempts to undermine the 2nd amendment through their “Fast & Furious” gunwalking program.
This President needs to go away. He needs to be impeached and sent packing as soon as possible. His thugocracy is orders of magnitude above that of Nixon and even the Clintons, and that’s saying something.
Oh, I’m sure that the MSM and spinmeisters will ensure nothing bad happens to Obamatollah, but like Carter, history will not be so kind to his legacy, and he’ll likely spend the rest of his days in a futile attempt to rehab his image, yet only making himself look worse due to his sheer stupidity and tone deafness.
Hondo wrote, “They have investigated the matter and found that all this IRS brouhaha was due to “two ‘rogue’ employees in the agency’s Cincinnati office”.
Sounds similiar to “We have investigated this and it was due to an anti-Islamic video.”
I read an article on this on Yahoo and then went to the comments on it. Predictably the Liberals are crying “Bush did it too against Liberal groups”.
@11 – I think I saw that elsewhere, but they have nothing to support their claims (unless they’re referring to the democrats who were audited for not paying their taxes, but that’s a whole different thing, right?)
It just keeps getting interestinger and interestinger.
The smoke and mirrors routine isn’t working so well these days.
Another scary part of this is nobody is asking the question “why is the most powerfull man in the world getting his information from the nightly news?”.
@14 – Twist – NOBODY is asking the hard questions that need to be asked, but I wish somebody would.
(I saw the exchange between Eric Holder and Darrell Issa by the way, and when Holder said something about his “deputy” being behind the AP phone records, I was wondering when someone was going to ask him why he didn’t know what his deputy was up to? From a military perspective, the CO and XO typically know what the other is doing, right?)
Howie Carr message line had a guy singing “It’s beginning to look a lot like Nixon” to the tune of the Christmas Carol.
Holder recused himself because he knew too much! If that’s not a scream–and convenient. Is there anyone–anyone at all–in this administration about whom most of us could say, with a straight face, ‘Oh there’s a good, truthful, and decent person who is truly a public servant?’
Obama administration: “Yeah, sorry we fucked over some people and possibly violated their Constitutional rights, but trust us to do the right thing, m’kay? Promise!”
Uh, no. Don’t think so.
Nobody asks the question: why are we not surprised by any of this? And if you get audited, the IRS revenoooers won’t see you when it’s convenient for you. 1 – Never throw away any of your tax returns. Not til the day you die. Or afterwards. 2 – Document EVERYTHING and keep multiple copies. 3 – Keep your bank statements and scan the canceled checks to a standalone portable backup drive. 4 – If you ever get audited, take mass quantities of paper with you and a complete copy of the US Constitution and Bill of Rights, plus a notebook and something to write with. A – Make notes on all questions you’re asked, the time and date they were asked, plus your answers. B – Check questions asked against the Constitution and Bill of Rights and which parts are violated before answering. C – If the question is inappropriate (e.g., what is your political affiliation, do you support Israel) say so, reference the Constitution/Bill of Rights, and tell the auditor you want a glass of water. D – Mention filing a written complaint with the FBI, in regards to Item C. Do file same, if appropriate. E – If asked to sign anything, take your time reading it and demand three notarized copies. Also, draw a line through the parts you disagree with and add your own copy. F – Make sure you get the auditor’s name spelled correctly. 5 – Write down all questions asked by the auditor. 6 – Do not answer questions without first pausing, staring at the auditor like a bug, and visualizing him/her sitting on a prickly pear cactus leaf. A – Speak slowly, deliberately, calmly and make the answers short. B – Make a note of what you say. 8 – If you were asked inappropriate questions, after the audit is done, go see the FBI with your documenation of the event and file a written complaint. Oh, yes, you can. 9 – If possible, wear a pair of google glasses and record everything. Tell the auditor “This is for posterity” and… Read more »
@19 – I’ve never been audited (knock on wood), but what perplexes me about the power of the IRS is there is no due process. I hear if you screw up, then it’s game on and next come the felony charges. (Sounds to me like going through a police interview where you know you didn’t do anything, but they question you anyway without an attorney – or something like that.)
Another line for investigators to follow would be to start with the low level employees and see if they got any instructions on who to audit from their Union, and follow that chain and see where it goes.
@ #19, PH: I would add to your list to get the name and correct spelling of at least two levels of supervision, and meet them, if possible. And to inquire just who will decide the next steps following the initial audit interview.
From not very current personal experience, it is not the guys and gals doing the audit interview who are the problem. They used to be well informed and pretty good people persons. It is the folks behind the scenes who never have any direct contact with the public who are dangerous. They have always had a disproportionate amount of thugs in their ranks.
With the addition of a bazillion union thugs to their ranks who need no specific orders to do anything to practice their thuggery, “out of control” doesn’t even begin to describe their potential value as useful idiots aka agenda pushers.
The White House will try to delay until the George Zimmerman trial starts and takes the attention away from them.
Start digging around and you’ll find the EPA’s been doing the same crap, starting about the same date, in their bailiwick.
I e-mailed my sister last night to find out what was going on with her, because when I talked to her in April, she told me she was being audited for last year’s expenses in relation to her job, which includes recruiting pre-med students to attend her university.
This audit comes AFTER the trip she made to Israel last year. I asked her if she had ever been audited before.
In view of the IRS’s targeted audits of conservative groups and, as per the link above, individuals who spoke out against the Obama administration, it seemed rather coincidental that, as she confirmed this morning, she had never been audited until now.
She thinks she may have made a simple clerical error, which means that she didn’t have a tax accountant check her tax return before she sent it in. That would have cost her a small fee, but she gets very stubborn about such things, and it’s too easy to make such mistakes when you do your own taxes. Something as simple as misplacing a decimal point can cost a lot.
But that is the reason I wrote up that list. Someone labeled me the ‘document queen’, for a good reason: I never throw anything away if I think it’s important. On the other hand, these people can be and frequently are aggressive and abrasive, and (from what I’ve heard) enjoy freaking the living daylights out of the poor souls they call in, as if they’re going after moonshiners.
I was waiting for something like this to show up:
http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653378/s/2c0465fa/l/0Lfirstread0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A50C160C182989790Eobama0Edenies0Eknowledge0Eof0Eirs0Etargeting0Eresists0Ecalls0Efor0Especial0Ecounsel0Dlite/story01.htm
Bodaprez is completely in the dark about the IRS report and doesn’t want special counsel.
So, Ex-PH2 – was that anything like the POTUS saying, “I am not a crook?” (smile)
@26 – Horse-shit. My bet is he certainly knew. I’m just wondering who will have the wherewithall to stick with the story, investigate it, and connect the dots that all lead to the WH.
All of these scandals happening at once is no coincidence.