Leslie

They were the ones flooding the IRS with applications.

Giantaxe

The - Republican-controlled - House has spent 15% of its time and 37 votes trying to repeal the ACA. I'm still waiting for the "replace" part of "repeal and replace".

As to these "scandals", Benghazi is a joke "investigation" and lol at Congresspeople getting outraged about the Justice Dept investigating a national security leak that many of them specifically pushed to get investigated and whose legislation allowed it. The IRS overreach is more alarming, particularly as this is an organization that routinely tramples on people.

Michael

I'm going to defend the IRS a bit. People should pay taxes that are owed and when they don't, others pay. Unfortunately many people don't pay and they get away with it (rental property, the rich, under the table payments, etc.) and if they are caught, usually the penalties only go back 3 years and nothing else happens. Yes the IRS may send a demand for a larger than expected tax debt because the IRS doesn't have enough information to know how much a person owes but the IRS will reduce that demand to the correct amount if proof is provided. For the average taxpayer, as long as the taxes paid are fairly close to what is expected and excessive deductions aren't claimed, it is highly unlikely that they will be audited.

Few go to jail for not paying taxes and those are generally flagrant cases of people refusing to pay (Wesley Snipes) or some rich person with large tax haven accounts and he gets caught.

Although there have been complaints about FBAR, generally there isn't a problem if someone didn't file FBAR as long as they claimed income received from those accounts on their tax return.

I may be one few the few on BE that supports FATCA but I am getting tired of rich Americans evading taxes. I suspect the EU will pass similar legislation since they are also getting short changed (much worse than the IRS). I want to see compliance before cuts are made to the elderly, poor, education, and other social programs.

RoadWarriorFromLP

I'm no fan of the IRS.

However, (a) it is the IRS' job to approve or deny non-profit status, and (b) political organizations run the risk of running afoul of the non-profit statutes.

Every single corporation that wants non-profit status is going to have an IRS encounter. It is the only agency that determines whether an organization gets the status, and everyone who wants it has to apply and be approved for it.

501(c)(4) is a designation for "social welfare organizations." They are allowed to participate in politics only for causes that are related to their broader "social welfare" agenda.

It's obvious that the right-wing is trying to use this avoid taxes and add credibility to their fundraising efforts. But the statute wasn't created to fulfill those purposes. Lobbying isn't a tax-exempt activity.

scrubbedexpat099

Even if it is for a better tomorrow, tomorrow?

Michael

Only if yesterday was not as good as yesterday.

zargof

Comparing these current scandals to previous administrations, they do seem to be pretty small fry.

WMDs in Iraq
Bin Ladin determined to strike in US
Valerie Plame
Iran Contra
Gulf of Tonkin
Watergate

Somehow Benghazi and this IRS thing don't really fit on the list. It seems the Republicans have no answers on policy, so have to resort to ad hominem attacks. Then again, Clinton was impeached over a blowjob, so it's really nothing new.

But for me, the real scandal is that Obama gets a free pass on the issues that should be causing concern:
Using drones to bomb the shit out of brown people
Not closing Gitmo
Pissing all over the 4th and 5th Amendments
Bradley Manning

It will be interesting to see if this AP thing means Obama loses the press.

Michael

I agree but what possible political gain could the republicans get by having hearing on drone attacks or Gitmo when they support those things? If they had hearings, most of the criticism would be directed at republicans with many democrats wanting stricter policies on the use of drones and support for closing Gitmo.

RoadWarriorFromLP

The basic tactic of the GOP for the last 30+ years is to whine a lot while acting like holier-than-thou martyrs who are fighting their way through a world of enemies, both foreign and domestic. That's just what they do: it's an integral part of their party identity, and will be for the foreseeable future.

It really makes no difference who the president is. If the president belongs to the opposing party, then the GOP will constantly attempt to find something wrong with his character. If real scandals aren't available, then fictitious ones will do. It's just a gimmick.

Pulaski

Is that the same as pulling their weight?

RICH

The IRS is the guardian of my tax dollars. I am happy to learn they were questioning the abuse of my money by the t-pots, or any other extremist group.

scrubbedexpat099

But they are not.

RICH

...the guardians, or ...questioning abuse?

Michael

I wouldn't refer to most Tea Party groups as extremists groups even though I disagree with them but just right wing groups any more than I would refer to left leaning groups as extremist groups. However they are both political groups and in my opinion both should be monitored closely to make sure they are following the letter of the law to get tax exempt status.

scrubbedexpat099

They are not the former, they are just the collection agency.

They should be questioning abuse.