By Alan Joel ——Bio and Archives--May 14, 2013
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We need accountability at the IRS, of course, as to how this happened. But we've really got to overturn Citizens United which has exacerbated the situation. So I've called for DISCLOSE, that's a dare, disclose... I've been calling for it for over a year, disclose, who are these people? Transparency, amend the constitution to overturn Citizens United, reform the political system, let's take money down as far as possible. Public financing of campaigns, clean campaigns and empowerment of people because people feel very left out of the loop.However, the organizations who were subject to additional scrutiny were applying for either 501(c)3 or 501(c)4 or others, as revealed in this timeline put out by the WSJ on May 13th. but the apologists are counting on citizens to not know the different. By focusing on the 501(c)4 side of it, they can focus on calling out and blaming Citizens United. Now back to Steven Miller. Further down his Op-Ed he writes:
"Mistakes were made, but they were in no way due to any political or partisan motivation," he wrote. "We are--and will continue to be--dedicated to reviewing all applications for tax-exempt status in an impartial manner."Except, of course, when it comes to the Barack H Obama Foundation. Let's go back to May 8, 2011, right in the thick of the IRS targeting activity. The NY Post writes a revealing piece how the Barack H Obama Foundation, run by Obama's half-brother Malik:
"President Obama's half-brother runs an off-the-books American charity that claims to support poor Kenyans--but it lies about its federal status and no one knows how it spends its money."and
"Malik started his charity the year his brother ran for president. The foundation claims to be a tax-exempt, federally recognized nonprofit. It is not. Nor are there any filings of its expenditures, which the IRS requires of larger charities. Alton Ray Baysden, a former State Department employee at whose Virginia home the charity was founded in 2008, admitted the organization has not even applied for tax-exempt status",Because of this, the National Legal and Policy Center, a Washington, DC, watchdog group, made a formal complaint to the IRS and US Post Office that prior week in the beginning of May 2011. The result? This sunlight on the foundation means that the The Barack H Foundation hurriedly applied for and received tax exempt status in anunprecedented 30 days. The letter of their approval is currently available on the foundations' website, which is signed by.... Lois Lerner. On top of it, the status was made retroactive to December 2008. The plot thickens, as the apologies ring hollow.
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Alan Joel has been a practicing CPA in NYC for more than 40 years. He loves liberty and writes on the politics of taxes at his popular blog, AlanJoelNY.com