Roger Colinvaux, associate professor of law at Catholic University of America and former counsel to the U.S. Joint Committee on Taxation
The noise about IRS 'targeting' procedures should not be misinterpreted. The real issue at hand is disclosure of donors, not tax-exempt status. Something tells me that liberal and conservative groups are equally suspect when it comes to revealing donors, but that's just ME.
The IRS is actually in the 'targeting' business. They are an enforcer and are supposed to go after scofflaws, cheaters and dodgers. The guilt lies in the searching of tax returns for names like "tea party", which is clearly a specific group. What they should have done was searched for all such groups as a class, irrespective of political affiliation.
Roger Colinaux writes, ". . . But the extra scrutiny here is less because of tax exemption and more because of other tax benefits that flow from tax-exempt status, such as the ability to receive tax-deductible contributions. Importantly, charitable organizations are not allowed to engage in any political activity, because Congress long ago decided that charity and politics are incompatible. . ."
It's campaign finance law and NOT tax law that dictates public disclosure of donors for political groups but not for social welfare organizations. Mr. Colinaux again, ". . . After the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, it became possible for a 501(c)(4) organization to engage in unlimited amounts of political spending. It thus also became possible for a political organization to use the tax law to hide the identity of donors. After Citizens United, the abuse the IRS is tasked with policing is whether an organization that claims to be a "social welfare" organization is in reality a political organization in disguise. . ."
So its yet another polarizing issue (guess there wouldn't be so much polarization if we weren't limited to only two poles.) and also again, an issue of many barking up the wrong tree.
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