TAX POLITIX
The Politics of Taxes
Club For Growth’s Presidential Series on Economic Freedom
The Club for Growth recently announced it is compiling a policy series called the "Presidential White Papers" in an effort to contribute to Election 2016 discussions. Their goal is to examine what candidates have said and done on matters of economic freedom. From their website: "From journalists to the candidates themselves, the Club’s White Papers are widely regarded as the go-to source on economic policy facts. The truth is in their record, not their rhetoric – but we’ve sifted through it...
IRS Granted One Tax Exemption For a Conservative Group in Three Years
A few days ago, I wrote about the Senate Finance Committee report, which revealed that ten groups have yet to receive tax exempt approval -- some waiting as long as five years. ATR had also delved into that report, and found only one conservative group actually received approval in a three year interval with Lois Lerner at the helm: The report by the Senate Finance Committee revealed that, “Due to the circuitous process implemented by Lerner, only one conservative political advocacy...
Taxpayer Advocate Report: Some Say Filing Season Was “Worst In Memory”
Every summer, the Taxpayer Advocate releases one of two annual reports to Congress. The summer report is the "Annual Objectives Report" which seeks to identify and work on priority issues for the upcoming Fiscal Year. The Taxpayer Advocate, Nina Olson, had done a good job for years trying to look out for the people, especially the the IRS being in such a tumultuous state recently. This year's report had three top priorities: 1) Long-Term IRS Strategic Planning and Taxpayer Service The NTA...
Some Groups Still Remain Unapproved By the IRS
There are still ten tea party groups which haven't received approval by the IRS -- years after having applied for tax-exempt status. Some applications have been delayed five years by now. All in all, 547 applications were “centralized,” for extraordinary scrutiny. According to a report by Senate investigators, "the Albuquerque Tea Party was one of the original test cases the IRS used to try to figure out how to handle tea party applications, and that group was still awaiting approval as of...
Social Security Administration Overpaid Millions in Disability Benefits
Washington Free Beacon had a sobering article about the lack of fiduciary responsibility in the Social Security Administration. A report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that for 5 years (FY2009-FY2013), disability payments totaling $371.5 million were overpaid to many individuals. "The report examined how concurrent Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA) payments affect Disability Insurance (DI) overpayments." The most recent annual Social Security Trustees report...
Ezekiel Emanuel is No Expert
It really irritates me that someone who has been incredibly wrong on the Obamacare issue can still be taken seriously anymore. Ezekiel Emanuel, one of the architects of Obamacare and Rahm Emanuel’s brother, has argued firmly for years that Obamacare will revolutionize the healthcare market and lower costs. Now that the actual hard data has come in, and that data has shown that Obamacare costs are actually rising substantially, Emanuel does this sort of backpedaling on the issue that is...
IRS Used Messaging Service To Avoid Email Archiving
There's not much more to say that what ATR lays out. In a nutshell, many IRS employees used an interoffice messaging chat system to communicate with one another, instead of email, because there was no archiving system turned on for that mode of communication -- meaning there was no written trail of discussions. This methodology was discovered while looking at Lois Lerner's emails. From Americans for Tax Reform: The IRS used a “wholly separate” instant messaging system that automatically...
Puerto Rico Needs Tougher Solutions, Not Insolvency
There was an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal last month regarding Puerto Rico, called "Profligate Puerto Rico on the Brink". It was written right at the time the the current Governor Alejandro García Padilla declared that Puerto Rico couldn't pay its debts anymore. As someone who is involved in Puerto Rico with friends and clients whom I advise on matters there, I found most of the points agreeable -- that Puerto Rico has not tried serious reforms before deciding to declare...
Ted Stevens and A Whistleblower
There was a short piece in the Wall Street Journal on July 7th in the “Notable and Quotable” section that should really be much more publicized. It documents how the FBI intentionally undermined the case against Senator Ted Stevens in 2008, thanks to a brave whistleblower. The reason that this revelation is so incredulous is that the political aftermath of the case had long-lasting consequences on this nation, particularly through the passage of several controversial bills which may never have...
Obama Blames IRS Targeting Scandal on Congress and Poor Funding
Earlier this week, President Obama did an interview with Jon Stewart. Jon Stewart pointed to a number of government agencies that have had various scandals under his watch -- including the IRS, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Office of Personal Management -- and inquired as to why his Administration has been plagued with so many problems. As the Washington Times reported, "Mr. Obama said Congress 'passed a crummy law' that provided vague guidance to the people who worked at the...
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