As everyone knows by now, some over-zealous IRS employees have been targeting conservative groups for extra tax-exempt status scrutiny. The focus was on certain 501(c)(4) organizations with names like "Patriot" and "Tea Party". 501(c)(4)'s are supposedly non-profit "social welfare" organizations. (Yeah, right!) Their members and donors are secret, as is the amount of their donation, and they are tax-exempt, but are permitted to financially participate in politics and elections.
Some big, well-known political 501(c)(4)'s are the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Karl Rove's American Crossroads and the Koch brothers' Americans For Prosperity. But thanks to the Roberts Court's idiotic Citizens United v. FEC decision (corporations are people), political 501(c)(4)'s have been sprouting like weeds over the past couple years. Some are Democratic, like the Obama reelection group Priorities USA, but more are of the conservative Republican stripe.
It should be noted that IRS scrutiny of tax-exempt status for any group is not illegal, and the IRS in fact denied 501(c)(4) status to Emerge America, a progressive group training Democratic women to run for office. The IRS has not, to my knowledge, denied the claim of any Tea Party or Patriot group.
But they did single out these right-wing groups and cover them up with reams of paperwork and make them jump through countless hoops. It gave the impression of profiling, of being unfairly biased against a particular class. And that's not a good impression to give, especially from the IRS. We do not approve. Heads will roll and corrective steps will be taken.
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