So they say the c4 inquiries were led by civil servants and -"are not
part of a broader effort looking at donations to 501(c)4s."

Do people think this will, nevertheless, wind up impacting political
giving, or not?

Here's the full statement:
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0511/IRS_c4_inquiries_not_political.html?showall

The IRS has opened examinations of five donors who had not filed gift
tax returns to determine if the donation were taxable gifts and if a
gift tax return should have been filed. These examinations were
started by employees of the Estate and Gift Tax Unit at the IRS as
part of their increased efforts in the area of non-filing of gift and
estate tax returns. These examinations are not part of a broader
effort looking at donations to 501(c)4s. All of the decisions
involving these cases were made by career civil servants without any
influence from anyone outside the IRS.
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