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You agree that they should be fired. I note that I agree but they haven't. You reply with "what, you want everyone fired".
You either believe they should be or perhaps you really don't have a problem with what went on here but are reluctant to say that so you say something else you are unwilling to actually support.
P.S. IRS rules support lawsuits when approval has been delayed.
WHo should be fired? Two people were fired. There was an investigation of this by the Treasury. Read it and tell me who should be fired. The Treasury didn't recommend anyone be fired. Didn't detail some massive corruption and coverup.
Understand the IRS is charged with investigating these groups begging for government handouts. So some questions are going to be asked. Some questions about politics are going to be asked. Some questions about who is in the leadership of the organization are going to be asked.
Highlights
Highlights of Report Number: 2013-10-053 to the Internal Revenue Service Acting Commissioner, Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division.
IMPACT ON TAXPAYERS
Early in Calendar Year 2010, the IRS began using inappropriate criteria to identify organizations applying for tax-exempt status to review for indications of significant political campaign intervention. Although the IRS has taken some action, it will need to do more so that the public has reasonable assurance that applications are processed without unreasonable delay in a fair and impartial manner in the future.
WHY TIGTA DID THE AUDIT
TIGTA initiated this audit based on concerns expressed by members of Congress. The overall objective of this audit was to determine whether allegations were founded that the IRS: 1) targeted specific groups applying for tax-exempt status, 2) delayed processing of targeted groups’ applications, and 3) requested unnecessary information from targeted groups.
WHAT TIGTA FOUND
The IRS used inappropriate criteria that identified for review Tea Party and other organizations applying for tax-exempt status based upon their names or policy positions instead of indications of potential political campaign intervention.
Ineffective management:
1) allowed inappropriate criteria to be developed and stay in place for more than 18 months, 2) resulted in substantial delays in processing certain applications, and 3) allowed unnecessary information requests to be issued.
Although the processing of some applications with potential significant political campaign intervention was started soon after receipt, no work was completed on the majority of these applications for 13 months. This was due to delays in receiving assistance from the Exempt Organizations function Headquarters office.
For the 296 total political campaign intervention applications TIGTA reviewed as of December 17, 2012, 108 had been approved, 28 were withdrawn by the applicant, none had been denied, and 160 were open from 206 to 1,138 calendar days (some for more than three years and crossing two election cycles).
More than 20 months after the initial case was identified, processing the cases began in earnest. Many organizations received requests for additional information from the IRS that included unnecessary, burdensome questions (e.g., lists of past and future donors). The IRS later informed some organizations that they did not need to provide the information that was previously requested. IRS officials stated that any donor information received in response to a request from its Determinations Unit was later destroyed.
WHAT TIGTA RECOMMENDED
TIGTA recommended that the IRS finalize the interim actions taken, better document the reasons why applications potentially involving political campaign intervention are chosen for review, develop a process to track requests for assistance, develop and publish guidance, develop and provide training to employees before each election cycle, expeditiously resolve remaining political campaign intervention cases (some of which have been in process for three years), and request that social welfare activity guidance be developed by the Department of the Treasury.
In their response to the report, IRS officials agreed with seven of our nine recommendations and proposed alternative corrective actions for two of our recommendations. TIGTA does not agree that the alternative corrective actions will accomplish the intent of the recommendations and continues to believe that the IRS should better document the reasons why applications potentially involving political campaign intervention are chosen for review and develop and publish guidance.
But they are. So what is the problem? Well as you note they should be fired but haven't been and we need to make sure one of them is whoever decided this would be a good idea.
Then perhaps prosecuted for stomping on the civil and constitutional rights of others.
Just wait until the lawsuits start.
And get tossed out of court.
If you apply for tax-exempt status, you are inviting the government to investigate you to determine if you qualify for that tax-exempt status. If you are one of the tens of thousands of organizations applying, you realize that you are dealing with a bureaucracy, and that things move slowly.
It's going to be difficult to show that anyone's civil and Constitutional rights were "stomped" on.
What is evident is that the agency engaged in some profiling that adversely affected conservative groups. And in the United States, our government is not allowed to engage in profiling. But what we haven't heard about are any groups that were denied tax-exempt status that should have received it. If you are a political organization (and let's be honest, most tea party groups are political organizations--they exist to change government policy--that is political), you don't get tax-exempt status. You must prove that the purpose of your organization is non-political.
I think that this issue is being sullied by manufactured hysteria. It's fun to pile on the IRS, they are a much-hated part of our government, anyway. But the outcome of all this hysteria is going to be some pretty strict guidelines about how the IRS determines whether or not political organizations can be tax-exempt. I suspect that some organizations, like Crossroads or Americans For Prosperity, may lose their tax-exempt status as those stricter guidelines are put into place. I know that you (and I) see nothing wrong with that. I think, though, that some of the power players in the GOP will not want stricter guidelines. Right now, there are a lot of people playing with a gunpowder keg. They should be careful, lest that keg blow up in their faces.
anyone else notice that Rep Neal (D-MA) submitted a list of liberal groups that had also been subjected to extra scrutiny
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