DOJ settles lawsuits over Tea Party targeting by Obama IRS

[zenkai]

Source

The Trump administration, after years of litigation, has settled lawsuits with Tea Party and other conservative groups who say they were unfairly targeted by the IRS under the Obama administration.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced early Thursday that the Justice Department had entered into settlements with Tea Party groups whose tax-exempt status was significantly delayed by the IRS dating back to 2013, “based solely on their viewpoint or ideology.”

The settlements involve payments to the plaintiffs and an apology from the IRS.

The targeting scandal drew heavy attention in 2013 when the IRS admitted it applied extra scrutiny to conservative groups applying for nonprofit status. Lois Lerner, then head of the Exempt Organizations unit responsible, became the public face of the scandal, though other IRS officials were involved as well.

Sessions said that groups with names involving “Tea Party” or “Patriots,” or those with specific policy positions concerning government spending, were subject to “inappropriate criteria” to “screen” applications.

JUDGE ORDERS IRS TO REVEAL WHO TOOK PART IN TEA PARTY TARGETING
FILE: May 2013: IRS official Lois Lerner on Capitol Hill in Washington.

Former IRS official Lois Lerner said in 2013 that the IRS' practice of applying extra scrutiny to conservative groups 'was wrong.' (AP)

“The IRS’s use of these criteria as a basis for heightened scrutiny was wrong and should never have occurred,” Sessions said in a statement Thursday. “It is improper for the IRS to single out groups for different treatment based on their names or ideological positions.”

While the IRS did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment, court documents show that the agency did offer an apology.

“The IRS admits that its treatment of Plaintiffs during the tax-exempt determination process, including screening their applications based on their names or policy positions, subjecting those applications to heightened scrutiny and inordinate delays, and demanding some Plaintiffs’ information that TIGTA determined was unnecessary to the agency’s determination of their tax-exempt status, was wrong,” the IRS said in court documents. “For such treatment, the IRS expresses its sincere apology.”

The Justice Department’s settlement would pay the claims of each of the over 400 groups in the case. The attorneys for the groups said it was “a great day for the First Amendment,” but noted that day “was too long in coming.”

“The Government’s generous settlement with the Class Plaintiffs fully vindicates their claims that the IRS targeted Tea Party and conservative groups based on their viewpoint,” lead counsel for the conservative groups, Eddie Greim, told Fox News in an email. “However, like Lois Lerner’s stated apology back in 2013, any recent so-called 'apology' by the IRS has little value. That is because the Service continues to suggest that its targeting was really just ‘mismanagement.’”

Greim added: “This story was dismantled in our case. For taxpayers to be truly confident that the IRS has changed, it needs to be truthful about its past abuse of power.”

The hyper partisan politics is a cancer. I hope the current IRS doesn't do the same thing to liberal groups.

[Garnier Fructis]

The hyper partisan politics is a cancer. I hope the current IRS doesn't do the same thing to liberal groups.

I mean, I probably wouldn't shed a tear if extreme liberal groups got screwed over either.

[Breccia]

Before people jump in, the question isn't "did the IRS call groups that were clearly political, clearly political?" The question appears mostly to be "did they let other groups get away with it?"

It was not wrong of them to target groups that had an agenda. It was wrong for them to target groups because of what that agenda was. Granted, calling yourself the Tea Party Patriots put a giant fucking target on your back, and they should have been caught for so blatantly breaking nonprofit rules, but that shouldn't let other groups off the hook just because they weren't so fucking stupid naming themselves.

[Hobb]

The hyper partisan politics is a cancer. I hope the current IRS doesn't do the same thing to liberal groups.

Actually it looks like they did. So where's the apology and damage payments for them?

Guess it only applies for republicans doing shady favors for each other.

Source:
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefi...liberal-groups

[Vyuvarax]

The hyper partisan politics is a cancer. I hope the current IRS doesn't do the same thing to liberal groups.

I agree. The way you make a big deal out of things that happen / are done to conservatives but don’t give a fuck when it happens to liberals is a massive cancer.

P.S. Liberal groups have always been targeted by the IRS. They just don’t have the same emotional tantrums these conservative groups do.

[Jeezy911]

Before people jump in, the question isn't "did the IRS call groups that were clearly political, clearly political?" The question appears mostly to be "did they let other groups get away with it?"

It was not wrong of them to target groups that had an agenda. It was wrong for them to target groups because of what that agenda was. Granted, calling yourself the Tea Party Patriots put a giant fucking target on your back, and they should have been caught for so blatantly breaking nonprofit rules, but that shouldn't let other groups off the hook just because they weren't so fucking stupid naming themselves.

So as long as it targets the right, that's OK? Who gives a fuck what their ideology is, you can't have different rules based on feelings.

[Lenonis]

Hard for me to muster tears over political groups trying to fleece taxpayers vs abuse of the non-profit rules.

[Blur4stuff]

So if part of government delays something for political reasons it's wrong?

That would be interesting.

[Calfredd]

So as long as it targets the right, that's OK? Who gives a fuck what their ideology is, you can't have different rules based on feelings.

Glad you agree with him.

[Kujako]

Guess the left wing groups that were also targeted should have sued like little children as well, cause hey, free money from the tax payers right Republicans?

[ati87]

The IRS should have targeted the objectively political groups so stop crying right wingers
second
Fake scandal, the IRS targeted everybody not just these hate groups that are crying because they couldn't fuck over the country by misusing a system.

- - - Updated - - -

Guess the left wing groups that were also targeted should have sued like little children as well, cause hey, free money from the tax payers right Republicans?

But left wingers are pussies member, they cry allot when things don't go their and right-wingers are patriots that would never do something illegal.

[Deleted]

They were just doing profiling, and I have been told there ain't nothing morally wrong with that

[Machismo]

So, this is basically conservatives paying off other conservatives.

All of this would be settled if they would just get rid of tax-exempt status entirely. I'm tired of these welfare trash groups living off the public dime.

[Brubear]

Actually it looks like they did. So where's the apology and damage payments for them?

Guess it only applies for republicans doing shady favors for each other.

Source:
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefi...liberal-groups

This article really needs to not be skipped over.

A new report by Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) has identified as many as 146 cases in which the Internal Revenue Service may have put liberal-leaning groups under heightened scrutiny, The Washington Post reported.

The report examined cases between 2004 and 2013. A similar earlier report by TIGTA from 2013 said the IRS had singled-out conservative-leaning groups, sparking accusations from Republicans that the Obama administration had improperly targeted political opponents.

The 2013 report examined cases around the same time period. The new TIGTA report is set to be released Thursday. The Post reviewed an advance copy of the report.

The new report identified 146 cases of left-leaning groups being targeted for additional scrutiny because of suspicions that they were engaging in prohibited political activity.

Eighty-three of those groups were chosen because of the IRS's selection criteria, which included groups referencing terms like "Occupy," "Medical Marijuana" and "Progressive," as well as any affiliation with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN).

Groups that were targeted for more intense scrutiny were subjected to long waiting times and arduous requests for information about their donors and political activities, the Post reported.

The report says that it was "inappropriate" for the IRS to single out groups based on their names, rather than on actual evidence of inappropriate activity, according to the Post.

TIGTA's 2013 report identifying 96 conservative groups that were subjected to increased scrutiny by the IRS sparked outrage among some Republicans and prompted the resignations or retirements of top IRS officials.

[Cthulhu 2020]

Ah yes, these were the groups found to have been tunneling "non-profit" untaxable money through to tea party politicians. I'm glad our justice system is functioning so well that such blatant corruption and law breaking is met with "Well you didn't go after THE OTHER GUYS so let us off the hook!"

If I murder someone, I'm just gonna go for a settlement and say "Hey, I know this other guy who murdered someone, and you didn't go after HIM!"

Oh wait, I bet this kind of thing only works when it's the wealthy and/or politicians.

[Mormolyce]

We are a country of laws, unless there's a buck in it.

All of these groups should lose their tax free status permanently.

[Omega10]

This article really needs to not be skipped over.

What the article basically says is: The IRS targeted liberal groups more than they did conservative groups. This whole IRS scandal is just one more case of Trump supporters just flat out lieing.

[Orbitus]

The hyper partisan politics is a cancer. I hope the current IRS doesn't do the same thing to liberal groups.

Considering only liberal groups were stopped from getting a tax exempt status, it doesn't fucking matter.

[ati87]

Ah yes, these were the groups found to have been tunneling "non-profit" untaxable money through to tea party politicians. I'm glad our justice system is functioning so well that such blatant corruption and law breaking is met with "Well you didn't go after THE OTHER GUYS so let us off the hook!"

If I murder someone, I'm just gonna go for a settlement and say "Hey, I know this other guy who murdered someone, and you didn't go after HIM!"

Oh wait, I bet this kind of thing only works when it's the wealthy and/or politicians.

Not really how this went down

it's more like ''hey I know this other guy who also murdered somebody but why are aren't you just totally ignoring my murder!!!!!' (insert allot of crying)

Everybody got rightfully targeted but only one side acts like little bitches and whines about it.