That said there is something that is bothering me about the recent scandal involving the IRS and the accusations that employees there had focused on conservatives groups that had applied for tax exempt status. What bothers me is that there appears to be a significant bias in the manner that the facts are being reported; a bias which skews the facts toward one conclusion. While the truth is being reported; the manner in which it is being reported may be influencing the interpretation of the truth. Here are some issues that I heard reported ONCE and have not heard since.
In the years following the 2010 Supreme Court's decision that allowed 501(c)(4) groups to accept unlimited donations from corporate donors without disclosing the donor information there was a dramatic increase in groups applying for recognition as 501(c)(4)s . So, what is a 501(c)(4)? It is supposed to be an organization dedicated to social, charitable and recreational activities. It is their character as an organization serving the well-being of the community that allows them to be clasified as TAX EXEMPT. The Internal Revenue Service is not well known for clear language, for making it easy to understand what you can and cannot do with your money, but in the case of these charitable organizations they have outdone themselves for ambiguity! One part of the code seems to state that the group must be involved exclusively in charitable or social activities while another part of it replaces exclusively with primarily. That is sort of like comparing "going steady" with "playing the field"!
So I can just imagine the scenario at the Cincinnatti office of the IRS...populated by people whose primary role in life is to catch people who are lying to them; these are people who suspect EVERONE of trying to take advantage of the 'man' when they are suddenly or even gradually confronted with a noticeable uptick in groups wishing to not pay taxes. Aha! Anathema to any IRS employee! Now, let us imagine some numbers because I cannot find any dependable results by asking Google for numbers. Let us imagine that the office normally received 100 requests for tax exemption. Then there is a shift and they start receiving 150 requests. There was probably very little head scratching but an immediate and communal giant light bulb that appeared, fully lit, above the heads of the suspicious IRS career officials. "Check these new applicants out." OK, so they have no responsibility for what the percentage of new applications just happen to be conservative Tea Party groups. If 75% of the groups (again, made up numbers because I am just a normal citizen, not subscribed to high-level research resources) are conservative Tea Party type groups it may seem like they are being targeted, but in fact it is only because the increase in applications were primarily from groups that shared the same traits. Doesn't that make sense?
The important thing here is to determine just how many of these new applications WERE fraudulent. How many of these groups were engaging in political activism more than 49.9% of the time and were avoiding paying taxes on the funds they received and disbursed? Personally, I would rather have the IRS vultures circling these goups who are filtering corporate funds in the millions than Harry down the street who may or may not have filed his return with 100% accuracy. Of course, if they actively avoided investigating any application OTHER than the conservative groups; this is bad. But if they stuck their hands into a barrel of new applications and it just so happens that all the forms that fit into their hot little hands were Tea Party type groups what's rotten in the barrel isn't what's rotten at the IRS.
- In 2011, there were 97,382 501(c)4 organizations (civic leagues, social welfare orgs, etc.)[8]
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