The following segment originally aired on the June 2nd episode of Ring of Fire on Free Speech TV. Republicans have used the so-called IRS scandal to try to take down the Obama administration, but if you look at the facts, the Tea Party deserved to be targeted. Ring of Fire host Mike Papantonio dissects the “scandal” with Farron Cousins, executive editor of Trial Lawyer Magazine and contributing writer for DeSmogBlog.
The Tea Party has been crying foul recently ever since it came to light that they’ve garnered increased attention from the IRS but, in fact, the attention is well-earned.
It’s the responsibility of the Internal Revenue Service to evaluate the validity of 501(c)(4) groups as serving social, welfare interest. Tea Party groups are famous for promulgating the destruction and abolishment of the IRS and rightly open themselves up to scrutiny for their tax practices.
What’s worse is the government kowtowing and apologizing for simply doing its job.
Organizations like the Cincinnati Tea Party and others have a tradition of promoting reduced taxes and the dissolution of government services. It’s not a far stretch to think that these groups would go the extra step in their political agenda of destroying the government and simply stop paying what they’re required to under the law, effectively shifting the burden onto taxpayers.
Beyond that, these groups don’t want attention on their activities as their funds are simply funnelled to political figures and propaganda, often producing large discrepancies in their balance books.
“The IRS has not said to them, ‘We’re not going to give you a 501(c)(4). They’ve simply said, ‘if you apply, we want to know what your organization does, is it a social welfare organization and not a political organization. The problem is the Tea Partiers don’t want to sign that affidavit, they don’t want to sign those forms because they can be prosecuted for lying…,” said Mike Papantonio, host of Ring of Fire.