IRS Agents ‘Sabotage’ Tea Party Activists? It’s FALSE NEWS!

Sandy Todd: IRS Agents ‘Sabotage’ Tea Party Activists? It’s FALSE NEWS!



It’s another day in the never-ending saga of the menacing IRS agents against the beleaguered Tea Party, some four years after the first set of applications made their way to the Cincinnati Tax Exempt Determinations Unit. The implication thus far has been that a small band of reprobate IRS agents from Cincinnati were intentionally obstructing the patriotic work of our most loyal citizens. This image is perpetuated by the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee with the most extreme rhetoric, stronger than anything we’re seeing in the media. It doesn’t conduct the investigation in a fair and impartial manner, which oddly enough is what the investigation claims was done to citizens. Instead, it leaks testimony, verbally insults witnesses, cuts off the microphone of committee members, and blasts a blatantly political heading, charging: “The IRS: Targeting Americans for Their Political Beliefs.”

This is unacceptable and false on so many levels. What’s worse, this completely bogus inquisition, put on by Congressman Darrell Issa, is maligning the integrity of so many agents doing nothing more than ensuring political organizations do not intentionally evade taxes they are required to pay. The only intentional “targeting” going on is by groups pretending they aren’t going to engage in campaign activity when they know they are.

Who are these government workers who are actually under criminal investigation, thanks to Chairman Issa? They are citizens like Elizabeth Hofacre, an Army veteran, Boston University MBA, and IRS employee since 1999. She was the “emerging issues coordinator” in April of 2010 and was one of the first to be confronted with the uptick in Tea Party applications. She did not say liberal cases were not processed, as has been misinterpreted by the media. She said they were not part of her role as an “emerging issues coordinator.” In her own words, she sent “those applications to general inventory since they were not within the scope of the Tea Party emerging issue.”

She coordinated with Carter Hull, an IRS tax law specialist in Washington DC, at the Rulings and Agreements office that has oversight of the Determinations Unit in Cincinnati. Carter Hull is a Vietnam veteran who received his degree in 1965 and then gave 48 years to the IRS. In his testimony, he states he received two test cases that he reviewed with Elizabeth Hofacre and then “drafted documents stating my recommendations and analysis.” He was charged with developing a template letter that would ensure a consistent line of questioning for groups that might illegally engage in lobbying and campaigning. In the fall of 2010, the Cincinnati manager, Cindy Thomas, a 35-year IRS veteran, told Holly Paz, a Washington DC manager, that this letter was not prepared. No cases were processed during this time, meaning no “emerging issue” organization was denied tax exempt status for any reason...

More at: http://www.democratsforprogress.com/2014/03/07/irs-agents-sabotage-tea-party-activists-its-false-news/