Panelists answered the following: Do you believe the IRS targeting certain conservative groups was politically motivated?
Richard Herrera: “No. It’s their job to target groups & individuals. Some people have attempted to make this political.”
Marty Richman: “Of course, it was no accident that every single application with names or case file references to “Tea Party” or “Patriots” were referred to a special unit prior to checking the application content, asked inappropriate questions, and delayed for years.”
Richard Place: “Of course it was. The conservatives save their money and the IRS is like Willy Sutton the bank robber. That’s where the money is.”
Nants Foley: “Of course it was political! Was this a rhetorical question?”
Mary Zanger: “No. It seems so but looking at the other side may alter that assumption. IRS computers red-flagged groups with no W-2s, no 1099s, meaning no way to track income. This bundle of groups happened to be conservative applying for tax-exempt status. The tax exemption requires charitable, church or social work. Political groups do not qualify. It seems to me that the IRS was doing its duty.
Ruth Erickson: “It appears that the IRS has targeted conservative groups applying since 2010, for 501c-4 nonprofit status and are still waiting. We have learned that when we heard about this IRS controversy, the president said he knew nothing about it. Now President Obama says that the IRS did target conservative groups, so, we have to assume that if the president of the United States says so, then it must be so!”
