Jim Hightower
I try and stay away from most Facebook debates as they tend to morph into ideological wars, leaving behind any productive and factual exchange of ideas. But recently I was compelled to investigate a post comment by a clearly Liberal individual regarding the IRS scandal, and how he felt these “Right Wing Groups” somehow got what they deserved. He cited an article by stalwart progressive Jim Hightower concerning what “he” believed was illegitimate application of the 501 (c) (4) tax status. Moving past the obvious bias of the author, I did read the article and was somewhat amused by it. Hightower refers to the many abuses of the C3 and C4 as if “Rush Limbaugh” wrote the classifications into the tax code himself. His continual references to “whining and notorious” political players like Rove and the Koch brothers made it clear there would be little substance contained in the rest of the article. Nevertheless, I read on and then decided to do a little of my own homework. Here’s what I discovered.
For starters, let’s look at the obvious. The U.S. Tax Code reads like a Bernie Madoff manifesto. Generations of smooth talking politicians and bureaucrats have manipulated the Constitutional basis for taxation, (the 16th Amendment etc…), into what in many ways resembles something which should be investigated under the organized crime statutes. In any event, after hours of perusing this categorized collection of fiscal injustice imposed upon a complacent citizenry over the last couple of hundred years, I narrowed my search and found a PDF file, readily available through our POTUS’s personal information gathering company, “Google”, http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/eotopicm95.pdf which basically tells us everything we need to know. There you will find fairly easy to understand criteria which one would have to meet in order to qualify for the exemption. Hey, what do you know? It appears the witnesses who testified freely before “The Ways and Means Committee” last week, and their respective initiatives, seem to fit right into those categories rather nicely, despite what some would have you believe.
Inevitably there will always be those (on both sides) of the political argument who misuse or misrepresent the tax code. Having said that, the notion or implication that these mostly “Average Joe” or “Tea Party Types” are somehow assaulting the American Taxpayer by seeking a particular exemption, is just another example of Liberals using, “the best defense is a good offense” strategy that they use quite often as a means to navigate around the facts. Moreover, when one looks closely at the number of organizations joining Mr. Rove’s on any list receiving the aforementioned exemption(s), one finds the ACLU, NAACP, AARP, DLA, The Humane Society, The “Colbert” Super Pac, and so on and so on…
All I’m trying to say here is that this is clearly a two-way street. But some folks and their efforts were certainly scrutinized far beyond what is acceptable, and in some cases what was legal. The fact that some fool doesn’t like the “Tea Party” or what they stand for should mean absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things. Personally, I think the “Coalition to Stop Gun violence” is a sham which regularly spreads inaccurate data to further an un-Constitutional agenda. However, until the tax code says differently, they will continue to receive tax exempt status in compliance with the letter of the law. And one more thing, what do you think my “Facebook commenter” and Mr. Hightower would say if the IRS started asking the folks over at the AARP or Planned Parenthood how many times a week they pray or don’t pray, or if they planned on participating in any illegal protests in the near future. Answer that with a straight face…
