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Yeah but they didn't. It was conservative groups only. And now groups that were pro-Israel.
I'll be interested in hearing what the issues were with the pro-Israel groups. There may have been a legitimate reason--if they were raising money and trying to funnel it abroad for political purposes, that's a HUGE no no. If they were doing public education campaigns, or raising money for a charity like health care for terrorism victims, then they would fit the criteria.
Not just targeting them, but targeting them at the beginning of a presidential election cycle, and interfering with their ability to effectively participate. This Chicago politics is some ugly stuff. Karl Rove must be jealous.
Yes Dockside, you are right, I figured that most people would have understood the importance of even the timing of these groups being targeted and their application put through extra scrutiny extending the time it takes for them to do the activities they were formed to do. In this case, the Tea Party is a political group and we all know how the Liberals attack them.
That's the point though--they CAN'T participate in an election cycle if they're a 501(c)3 organization--they can't participate AT ALL in any kind of campaign activities. The only thing they could have done would be non-partisan voter registration (like sitting in front of a grocery store and registering EVERYONE, D's and R's alike) or holding completely non-partisan candidate debates, like the League of Women voters. Even then, they couldn't bias the questions to one party or another. That's not what they were going to do. The timing is meaningless.
The big advantage of a 501(c)3 status is that the organization not only doesn't pay taxes on it's income, but unlike other non-profit designations, the donors get to write whatever they give you off their taxes as a charitable contribution. That's why the IRS is so strict about the NO POLITICAL work rule.
If they wanted to do election activities, they should have registered as a PAC. That's the kind of work it looks like they were intending to do, but then their donors couldn't deduct their contributions--they may have been trying to pull a fast one. Were liberal groups registering to do campaign work as 501(c)3's? If they were, and they were approved, it's a problem. If not, the tea party groups may have been singled out and flagged because of the type of group they were all applying to be in contrast to the organizations that they are. You can't be candidate or campaign oriented and have that tax exempt status.
C'mon dude, you know full well many of them are registered as 501(c)(4)s which allows them to lobby legislators and create issue ads.
The IRS got caught, quit making bs excuses for them.
What scares the hell out of me is these bastards will soon be running healthcare in this country. You libs really comfortable with that?
You do not believe auditing someone based on their political stand has a chilling effect on free speech?
Let me tell you this if they audited groups labeled progressive I would have a problem with it regardless of my lack of agreement with progressives.
Lots of different groups get audited, it isn't really that big of a deal...maybe a little bit of a pain, but that is it. I have worked for a company that has been audited once. They came in, went through the bookkeeping and left.
You guys act like this is the first time anyone has ever been audited.
That's the point though--they CAN'T participate in an election cycle if they're a 501(c)3 organization--they can't participate AT ALL in any kind of campaign activities. The only thing they could have done would be non-partisan voter registration (like sitting in front of a grocery store and registering EVERYONE, D's and R's alike) or holding completely non-partisan candidate debates, like the League of Women voters. Even then, they couldn't bias the questions to one party or another. That's not what they were going to do. The timing is meaningless.
The big advantage of a 501(c)3 status is that the organization not only doesn't pay taxes on it's income, but unlike other non-profit designations, the donors get to write whatever they give you off their taxes as a charitable contribution. That's why the IRS is so strict about the NO POLITICAL work rule.
If they wanted to do election activities, they should have registered as a PAC. That's the kind of work it looks like they were intending to do, but then their donors couldn't deduct their contributions--they may have been trying to pull a fast one. Were liberal groups registering to do campaign work as 501(c)3's? If they were, and they were approved, it's a problem. If not, the tea party groups may have been singled out and flagged because of the type of group they were all applying to be in contrast to the organizations that they are. You can't be candidate or campaign oriented and have that tax exempt status.
First off there is no proof or accusations that any of these groups were involved in any sort of political activity. Second, they are allowed a limited involvement.
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