2 ms·

To the downvoters: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRS_targeting_controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRS_targeting_controversy and Historically: https://en

To the downvoters: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRS_targeting_controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRS_targeting_controversy and Historically: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_allegations_of_misuse_of_the_Internal_Revenue_Service https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_allegations_of_misuse_...

rootusrootus 4y ago
As mentioned in your first example, they didn't go after opponents at all, unless you mean they went after both groups who would be considered opponents of each other. It was a great big fake news fiasco.
- dimitrios1 4y ago
  https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/irs-admits-targeting-conservatives-for-tax-scrutiny-in-2012-election/2013/05/10/3b6a0ada-b987-11e2-92f3-f291801936b8_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/irs-admits-t... https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/irs-admits-targeting-conservative-groups/story?id=19151646 https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/irs-admits-targeting-conserv... https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-tax-conservative/justice-department-settles-with-conservative-groups-over-irs-scrutiny-idUSKBN1CV1TY https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-tax-conservative/just... https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2017/10/26/irs-settles-tea-party-cases-millions-and-apology/802368001/ https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2017/10/26/ir...
ajross 4y ago
Nothing in either of those links remotely substantiates "frequently been used as a tool to go after political opponents". It's just a list of allegations. A bunch of people and organizations (from, it seems, all across the political spectrum) got audited, that's it? Did the audits... find mistakes in their taxes? For those here who are young and haven't had an exposure to this process outside of meme sites: an IRS audit is indeed a big pain in the ass. But as political oppression, it's pretty weak sauce. It's not like we're deploying novichok in the service of tax collection.
- mikeyouse 4y ago
  They weren't even tax audits in the 'targeting scandal' - 501C4 groups are required to be non-partisan. In the wake of Citizens United, tons of new C4s sprung up and the IRS was required to vet them to make sure they were actually non-partisan. So they started trying to filter that list down from every new org, to those that would likely be partisan.. e.g. those with "tea party" in the name or "progressive" or "occupy". Through just relentless bad faith and a bottomless victim complex, the Republican House committees spent years insisting that Obama was targeting them, by literally restricting the IRS audit to only the right leaning lists and then presenting the IG results as comprehensive: https://thehill.com/policy/finance/154584-ig-audit-of-irs-actions-limited-to-tea-party-groups-at-gop-request/ https://thehill.com/policy/finance/154584-ig-audit-of-irs-ac...

rootusrootus 4y ago

As mentioned in your first example, they didn't go after opponents at all, unless you mean they went after both groups who would be considered opponents of each other. It was a great big fake news fiasco.

dimitrios1 4y ago
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/irs-admits-targeting-conservatives-for-tax-scrutiny-in-2012-election/2013/05/10/3b6a0ada-b987-11e2-92f3-f291801936b8_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/irs-admits-t... https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/irs-admits-targeting-conservative-groups/story?id=19151646 https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/irs-admits-targeting-conserv... https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-tax-conservative/justice-department-settles-with-conservative-groups-over-irs-scrutiny-idUSKBN1CV1TY https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-tax-conservative/just... https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2017/10/26/irs-settles-tea-party-cases-millions-and-apology/802368001/ https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2017/10/26/ir...

ajross 4y ago

Nothing in either of those links remotely substantiates "frequently been used as a tool to go after political opponents". It's just a list of allegations. A bunch of people and organizations (from, it seems, all across the political spectrum) got audited, that's it? Did the audits... find mistakes in their taxes? For those here who are young and haven't had an exposure to this process outside of meme sites: an IRS audit is indeed a big pain in the ass. But as political oppression, it's pretty weak sauce. It's not like we're deploying novichok in the service of tax collection.

mikeyouse 4y ago
They weren't even tax audits in the 'targeting scandal' - 501C4 groups are required to be non-partisan. In the wake of Citizens United, tons of new C4s sprung up and the IRS was required to vet them to make sure they were actually non-partisan. So they started trying to filter that list down from every new org, to those that would likely be partisan.. e.g. those with "tea party" in the name or "progressive" or "occupy". Through just relentless bad faith and a bottomless victim complex, the Republican House committees spent years insisting that Obama was targeting them, by literally restricting the IRS audit to only the right leaning lists and then presenting the IG results as comprehensive: https://thehill.com/policy/finance/154584-ig-audit-of-irs-actions-limited-to-tea-party-groups-at-gop-request/ https://thehill.com/policy/finance/154584-ig-audit-of-irs-ac...