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Jon Stewart does a great bit explaining the main thrust of the IRS scandal, the targeting of 501(c)(4) applications of conservative organizations.
But there is much more to this scandal than just IRS handling of applications for tax exempt status by conservatives. There is the targeting of these applicants for audits by not just the IRS, but other organs of our federal government. Peggy Noonan at the WSJ recounts one particularly horrific story:
[T]he most important IRS story came not from the hearings but from Mike Huckabee's program on Fox News Channel. He interviewed and told the story of Catherine Engelbrecht—a nice woman, a citizen, an American. She and her husband live in Richmond, Texas. They have a small manufacturing business. In the past few years she became interested in public policy and founded two groups, King Street Patriots and True the Vote.
In July 2010 she sent applications to the IRS for tax-exempt status. What followed was not the harassment, intrusiveness and delay we're now used to hearing of. The U.S. government came down on her with full force.
In December 2010 the FBI came to ask about a person who'd attended a King Street Patriots function. In January 2011 the FBI had more questions. The same month the IRS audited her business tax returns. In May 2011 the FBI called again for a general inquiry about King Street Patriots. In June 2011 Engelbrecht's personal tax returns were audited and the FBI called again. In October 2011 a round of questions on True the Vote. In November 2011 another call from the FBI. The next month, more questions from the FBI. In February 2012 a third round of IRS questions on True the Vote. In February 2012 a first round of questions on King Street Patriots. The same month the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms did an unscheduled audit of her business. (It had a license to make firearms but didn't make them.) In July 2012 the Occupational Safety and Health Administration did an unscheduled audit. In November 2012 more IRS questions on True the Vote. In March 2013, more questions. In April 2013 a second ATF audit.
All this because she requested tax-exempt status for a local conservative group and for one that registers voters and tries to get dead people off the rolls. Her attorney, Cleta Mitchell, who provided the timeline above, told me: "These people, they are just regular Americans. They try to get dead people off the voter rolls, you would think that they are serial killers."
This week Ms. Engelbrecht, who still hasn't received her exemptions, sued the IRS.
That goes far beyond merely targeting a 501(c)(4) application. It is far more Soviet than American. Who is coordinating the activities of all of these other organizations in their thuggery? Somehow, that seems like it would go far beyond a mid-level bureaucrat at the IRS's Cincinnati office. One of the key bits of information we need to know is who authorized the FBI investigation as well as the audits by OSHA, ATF and the IRS.
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2 comments:
Obama gave the order, his followers enthusiastically enforced it. Strassel explained this clearly in her column at the WSJ.
Yes, but this was coordinated enforcement. We can reasonably guess at the why, we need to know the who and how. This is bigger than the tax exempt bureau at the IRS.
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