General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI think I know why Joe Scar is so hysterical over the IRS scandal...
yes, it is a major SNAFU but we just don't know and can't say until we get more evidence that this was all an evil Dem plot against republicans...BUT
Joe Scar whines and complains and wonders why there isn't more outrage by the general public. Well, Joe, maybe it is because folks with lots of money, like you, tend to have some pretty convoluted deals to avoid paying taxes. It's not that the average American doesn't get audited but people with money hire accountants and lawyers to cook up tax avoidance schemes and sometimes these deals are loosey-goosey and get closer scrutiny by the IRS...
Just sayin' Joe...your rich, white privilege is showing, buddy...
Cha
(295,929 posts)CTyankee
(63,771 posts)but when you have even jon stewart doing comedy about it you have to wonder...and I do mean I wonder about jon stewart...he makes a shitload of money too and must have a bit of the same mindset...most of us do our taxes and go about our business. The rich obsess about all the money they have to shell out to the IRS...it's a different mindset...rich people think differently from the rest of the great unwashed...just my observation...
Atman
(31,464 posts)And considering where both of us live, we tend to see a lot more of it than the average American living in a place like Kansas or Alabama.
CTyankee
(63,771 posts)republican...whenever I have a conversation with them and ask them why they vote republican they say they agree with the GOP on x or y. usually having to do with the race/abortion/religious beliefs. I try to tell them that the dirty little secret is that the rich republicans don't give a shit about them and just laugh at them...they don't like hearing the truth...
Atman
(31,464 posts)They do just what you say -- they hate gays, they hate abortion, they hate immigrants, they hate Obamacare, but they're all about Jesus and God and vote for Rick Scott. They think it's a paradise down there. I wouldn't move back if you paid me. I hate to say it, but as they've gotten older (we all grew up in the 60s-70s) they've turned into ignorant hillbillies. It didn't use to be that way, but there is apparently something in the water down south. Oh, and not so coincidentally, Joe Scarborough is from Pensacola. Need I say more?
CTyankee
(63,771 posts)Have you noticed Joe's soft, pink hands? Between him and Bill Kristol (another with the soft, pink hands), it gets nerve-wracking...Kristol was on a couple of times in recent weeks and you can only take so much...
Atman
(31,464 posts)I finally got rid of cable. I haven't seen one minute of MSNBC (or anyone else on TV) in more than three weeks now. I admit, I tried to access online. They claimed I could get a live stream as long as I had internet access, but when i sign on they wont accept my Charter password. Good riddance. I'm now streaming WBUR (NPR) out of Boston, and the only "tv" we watch is from Netflix.
CTyankee
(63,771 posts)and watching dems rebuke them. I guess I love a good political tussle a bit too much...
Atman
(31,464 posts)I just can't say I "miss" it. DU's LBN forum and various online news sites keep me informed. Since I'm still working the political gig, I have to have some inkling of what is going on. "House of Cards" and "OITNB" will only get you so far.
Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)Republicans don't give a fuck about them. Not even if they were millionaires. They'd never make enough money. Never!
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)called 'donations' of their republican tea party.
Everyone knows they are another republican political group.
Tax dodgers!
Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)ORIENTED GROUPS got their tax-exempt status except for a few *LIBERAL* leaning groups. It was the liberals that got shafted, not the conservatives. But everyone else--both liberals and conservative organizations--got their status. That's what should be pissing people off!! Not this fake scandal bullshit!
Atman
(31,464 posts)Exactly.
hedgehog
(36,286 posts)HenryWallace
(332 posts)Well isn't this disappointing!!!
What we really have here is discredited talking points bouncing around long enough that they show up on a DU thread as an underlying given. You say something long enough and loud enough and eventually it becomes conventional wisdom.
CTyankee
(63,771 posts)the issue that is real is the fact that the IRS has an antiquated computer system and that goes to a funding issue. If we demand competence from our government, we need to give it the tools to work. If we deny them funding for an updated system and then complain about it being incompetent, well...what do you expect?
starroute
(12,977 posts)The non-profits don't have to reveal their donors. That makes them ideal vehicles for the likes of the Koch brothers to run huge amounts of unaccountable contributions through. And the King Street Patriots have been at the center of both that kind of money laundering activity and the fake IRS scandal.
http://offthekuff.com/wp/?p=32051
The King Street Patriots (KSP), which representatives say is registered with the IRS as a nonprofit 501(c)4 corporation, has hosted regular forums for GOP candidates at its Hempstead Highway headquarters without extending invitations to their Democratic opponents. KSP president Catherine Engelbrecht said her group is abiding by the law, but legal experts said the forums, if partisan in nature, flout state prohibitions against corporate campaign contributions.
You cant operate a candidate forum where you bring in only one side of the spectrum. If you do youre a political committee, said Austin attorney Buck Wood, a Texas elections expert. If a nonprofit takes money to pay for candidate forums and is expending that money to expose candidates for public office to audiences on a regular basis, then I have no doubt youre a political committee under Texas law.
http://info.tpj.org/press_releases/pdf/kingstreet.pr.pdf
October 18, 2010
Texan for Public Justice (TPJ) today filed a formal complaint with the Texas Ethics Commission alleging that the King Street Patriots and KSP/True the Vote have violated the states prohibition on corporate contributions to political parties and candidates. The complaint says the groups appear to have made repeated in-kind corporate contributions to the Harris County Republican Party and a slate of Republican candidates for legislative, judicial and county offices. Because the alleged violations constitute felony criminal behavior, TPJ also referred the complaint to the Public Integrity Unit of the Travis County District Attorneys Office.
The King Street Patriots and KSP/True the Vote are Houston-based non-profit corporations affiliated with the tea party movement. TPJ alleges the corporations have used their corporate resources to coordinate and recruit poll watchers on behalf of the Harris County Republican Party. The King Street Patriots sponsored a number of get to know the candidates events where just one Republican candidate was invited to attend and promote his or her election. Texas law requires that all candidates for an office be invited to participate in such corporate sponsored candidate events. The Patriots website has promoted block-walking activities to spread the word on great conservative candidates. Clarifying who these candidates are, the website listed a number of Houston-area candidates, all of them Republicans.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)republican base votes, its John Birch Society lite for the little squidges.
DesertDiamond
(1,616 posts)The IRS admitted years ago that they mostly go after the little guy because the little guy can't afford to pay any pesky lawyers. When they finally go after rich guys, rich guys are all "WHAAAAAAT????"
packman
(16,296 posts)Us common folk keep our tax shit - receipts and such - in shoeboxes or at most a single file drawer. Can you imagine the paper shitstorm a Bill Gates or a Koch brother would throw at them? They would bring in a van load of paperwork on pallets and tell the IRS to go ahead, make a case.
Blue Idaho
(4,988 posts)Atman
(31,464 posts)marble falls
(56,371 posts)weissmam
(905 posts)they spend at leats an hour on this basically saying where is teh outrage ,
The answer is that no one cares
bklyncowgirl
(7,960 posts)E-mails saved on tape in this day and age? You have got to be kidding me.
Why is it that the arm of government responsible for making sure everyone pays their taxes is crippled by outdated technology and not enough people to do their job?
Could it be that some people don't want the IRS to actually do their jobs?