[EL] IRS Sent Same Letter to Democrats That Fed Tea Party Row: Taxes

[Michael P McDonald]

When the IRS scandal first erupted, I cautioned that we do not have all the facts yet. I predicted conservative groups would not be the only ones flagged by the IRS. This story from Bloomberg confirms that liberal organizations seeking 501(c)(4) status were also flagged by the IRS and were asked the same length set of questions as the conservative organizations. Unlike the Tea Party organizations, at least one liberal organization had their application rejected.

I maintain that we still do not know if bias was exercised against conservative organizations. To answer the question, we have to look at all 501(c)(4) applications to determine rates that liberal and conservative groups were flagged for attention and how their cases were handled. We have some suggestion in a previous thread that perhaps Tea Party organizations were poorly counseled to seek 501(c)(4) status. If 90% of the applications were coming from conservative organizations, then we might expect 90% of conservative organizations to be reviewed. Furthermore, we do not know how these liberal groups came to the attention of the IRS. Were they flagged for similar reasons as conservative groups by searching for keywords in their name or purpose?

I don't know what the facts will ultimately tell us -- or if we will ever get those facts given the way this story has taken a life of its own. If there was malfeasance, I'll reiterate that there should be consequences. But there is now evidence via Bloomberg that the IRS was not corrupt but merely inept in devising search criteria.

"IRS Sent Same Letter to Democrats That Fed Tea Party Row: Taxes" 
Posted on May 14, 2013 9:03 pm by Rick Hasen 
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-05-14/irs-sent-same-letter-to-democrats-that-fed-tea-party-row-taxes

============
Dr. Michael P. McDonald
Associate Professor
George Mason University
4400 University Drive - 3F4
Fairfax, VA 22030-4444

phone:   703-993-4191 (office)
e-mail:  mmcdon at gmu.edu               
web:     http://elections.gmu.edu
twitter: @ElectProject