BIDEN ‘WEAPONIZING’ THE IRS AGAINST MIDDLE AMERICA:
of Arkansas is aghast. Go to the Washington Post web site and search this: “Biden to hire 87,000 new IRS agents.” Go to the New York Times web site and search this: “Biden to hire 87,000 new IRS agents.” Zilch on both. Why do you suppose the Post and the Times are ignoring this story?
IRS asks Tax Agency to Strip Conservative Group of Nonprofit Status Over COVID-19 “Superspreader” Events
One of the leading liberal lights of American law now says the “IRS is engaged in unconstitutional discrimination against conservative groups and must be halted.”It’s a pretty obvious disgrace, once you actually look at the evidence — which is why the press has been so careful not to pay a lot of attention to the evidence. . . .
To be clear, Harvard prof Laurence Tribe is a convert: Early in the week, he sent out a tweet dismissing the idea of an IRS scandal as long-debunked.
But, as the Cato Institute’s Walter Olson noted at Overlawyered, for once social media actually shed light on a dispute: Others asked Tribe to read this month’s DC Circuit Court of Appeals ruling against the IRS in the case — and he did.
That unanimous decision, reinstating lawsuits against the IRS for its targeting of righty groups, noted that there’s “little factual dispute” about the targeting and the “unequal treatment” of conservatives. More, it’s “plain . . . the IRS cannot defend its discriminatory conduct on the merits.”
Tribe read that, plus a key Inspector General report, and tweeted, “I confess error [with regard to] IRS ideological targeting. The IG report and the [DC Circuit] decision seems right to me. Inexcusable abuse.”
If a liberal icon can see the serious abuse, there’s hope for the House drive to impeach IRS chief John Koskinen for his scorched-earth defense of the cancer in his agency.
The IRS offers a rather puzzling explanation for why the continued failure to afford proper processing to at least some of the victim applicants should not prevent a finding of cessation. That explanation is that the organizations whose applications were still pending “were involved in ‘litigation’ with the Justice Department . . . .” The Service’s brief further illuminates this point with a footnote explaining that “[u]nder long-standing procedures, administrative action on an application for exemption is ordinarily suspended if the applicant files suit in court.” Id. at 28 n.4. It is not at all clear why the IRS proposes that not ceasing becomes cessation if the victim of the conduct is litigating against it. The IRS position is reminiscent of Catch-22 from the novel of the same name. Under that “catch,” World War II airmen were not required to fly if they were mentally ill. However, anyone who applied to stop flying was evidencing rationality and therefore was not mentally ill. See Joseph Heller,Catch-22 [originally published in 1961]. “You are entitled to an exemption from flying,” the government said, “but you can’t get it as long as you are asking for it.”Parallel to Joseph Heller’s catch, the IRS is telling the applicants in these cases that “we have been violating your rights and not properly processing your applications. You are entitled to have your applications processed. But if you ask for that processing by way of a lawsuit, then you can’t have it.” We would advise the IRS: if you haven’t ceased to violate the rights of the taxpayers, then there is no cessation. You have not carried your burden, be it heavy or light.
We are very glad the appellate court has recognized that a cause of action exists that must and can be prosecuted and pursued. We are watching the actions of the government in the next week, to see whether the Obama administration will continue its stonewalling by seeking en banc review by the full DC Circuit– trying yet again to thwart further action in the case. The DoJ has until Friday, August 12, to file that petition.Assuming the case is ultimately remanded to the trial court, we would be able to commence discovery. And we believe that discovery in this case matters — to get to the truth that has eluded the American people for the last seven years. We are hopeful that with discovery we can finally get to that truth. And then to fashion a permanent, court-enforceable injunction to keep the IRS from ever engaging in the political persecution of American citizens again.
a) Have names including “Tea Party,” “Patriots,” or “9/12 Project”;b) Deal with government spending, government debt, or taxes;c) Deal with education of the public by advocacy or lobbying to “make America a better place to live”; ord) Criticize how the country is being run.
… the percentage of your total [Common Core] expenditures and total time spent on these activities during each of your past taxable years.
Submit representative copies of the materials you prepare or distribute in furtherance of these activities.
For purposes of calculating the percentage of expenditures, allocate salaries, administrative, overhead, and other general expenditures to these activities using a reasonable method. For purposes of calculating the percentage of time, include volunteer as well as employee hours.
