3 ms·
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 b
by 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 agoThey 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...