Watergate v2 (IRS Scandal)

[Tarage]

So, by that logic, we should profile middle eastern people in airports because they have flown planes into buildings.

[Kohan]

I think Plow's point was that when we thought they were only targeting Tea Partiers and you all thought it was no big deal, you were wrong.

Fortunately, only retarded people would have thought that. As archi said...

Except they were attempting to target all 501c's with political leanings for extra scrutiny since they are often used for tax-dodging political purposes - their fuckup was the ham-fisted way they did it by pointing towards keywords in the titles.

They aren't targeting them for WHAT they are expressing politically, they're doing a poor job of targeting them for additional scrutiny (as they should) for expressing political things at all.

This is why it's never been an issue. To say it was a severe and discriminatory problem is to give a lot of attention to a poorly handled yet understandable action. Watergate II it ain't, unless you're a sensationalist that doesn't care about reality.

[archibaldcrane]

So, by that logic, we should profile middle eastern people in airports because they have flown planes into buildings.

The IRS targets rich people for audits much more frequently than poor people.

They have limited resources and are trying to get the most bang for their buck. Compare it however you like.

[Plow]

Except they were attempting to target all 501c's with political leanings for extra scrutiny since they are often used for tax-dodging political purposes - their fuckup was the ham-fisted way they did it by pointing towards keywords in the titles.

They aren't targeting them for WHAT they are expressing politically, they're doing a poor job of targeting them for additional scrutiny (as they should) for expressing political things at all.

I'm agreeing that this is OK. I'm saying that the initial reports that it was targeted at right wing groups would have been a bad thing, period.

But if the Tea Partiers were targeted because the Koch brothers are attempting to subvert democracy by funneling money into politics, and these tax-exempt groups would be an ideal way to do it (and simultaneously subvert the IRS by claiming they're donating to a charity with tax-exempt status, which I believe would be a tax write off), it would make complete sense to only target those groups. Without information on why they were targeted, it's impossible to say whether or not it's a big deal. It warranted some investigation, but not absurd accusations like "Obama is trying to shut down Republican groups!"

What initially came out was that they were targeting republicans, not that the were targeting any and all 501c4. The former being bad, the latter being something we all thought they should be doing.

[Blubbartron]

What initially came out was that they were targeting republicans, not that the were targeting any and all 501c4. The former being bad, the latter being something we all thought they should be doing.

No, what initially came out was that they were targeting Tea Party organizations, not Republicans. It's all hindsight and fairly pointless to discuss (so I honestly don't know why I'm continuing), but again, it wouldn't have been a huge leap to say the IRS suspected that these groups were getting funding from the Koch Brothers and they wanted to put the kibosh on it. Since they weren't the ones filing for these tax benefits directly, they had to have some way of identifying which groups were likely fronts for the brothers, and the easiest way to do that is by the way the groups identify themselves. As I said previously, it would have warranted some investigation to make sure it was being handled correctly, but it's not an indication of malice and malice-driven discrimination. The whole situation has been blown massively out of proportion since the beginning, is what I'm getting at.