IRS "Scandal" - how many Tea Party groups

[NewJeffCT]

were approved after Citizen's United?

I think none were denied tax-exempt status, and only a few progressive groups were denied.

However, my google skills are weak and I can't find a list or a good count of groups.

Thanks

[Live and Learn]

1. The real question should be:

Why isn't every application reviewed thoroughly? Perhaps, the IRS needs to hire more agents so it can do a thorough job on every application. No organization should be granted an exemption without a thorough examination to see if they are actually a charitable organization.

[NewJeffCT]

2. Yes, there are other questions

and the IRS needs more agents, but more agents won't be happening with the House GOP controlling the purse strings.

[Live and Learn]

8. Of course not. But I would love it if that was the solution

they came up with. It would drive the GOP nutty.

[Sunlei]

3. here is the main website click 'groups' at the top to see # local bagger groups.

even on their donation page they do not show their IRS tax status like a real charity does.

I think the IRS says they get about 10k apps per year for requests to be a tax free charity. someone mentioned many apps from small groups of Republican local Teas.

when you look at the local groups a ton of them have not updated their websites in years, dead messageboards. I bet only the main website with a handfull of 'leadership' are paid employees with benefits. kochs not going to support thousands of tea employees yearly pay forever.

link https://www.teaparty.org/send-donation/


at the top- "groups"

[patrice]

5. K&RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

[NewJeffCT]

10. Thanks

but, the list doesn't say if they're 501c4 or another t/e status, or not t/e

[Sunlei]

11. go the IRS and use their search for charities by name. read the IRS rules, if they break rules.

you have to do your own "leg-work" with the tiny tax-free charities, there are millions of them.

[NewJeffCT]

12. Thanks

Seems odd that there were only a handful of tax-exempt tea party organizations, despite hardly anybody being rejected and this being such a big deal.

[Sunlei]

13. probably a smokescreen for the giant republican 'charities' like 'Crossroads'?

or the main Republican Tea website? by the way I didn't notice any IRS status posted on that main website. someone should find if they break irs rules and the status for 'donations'. see if they pay state taxes on property. somewhere the irs should have their actual IRS yearly forms up for the public to read.

[NewJeffCT]

14. We do know

that despite this extra scrutiny of what seems to be a handful of Tea Party groups, conservative 501c(4) groups outspent liberal ones by a 34:1 ratio in 2010 and 2012.

[66 dmhlt]

4. Some Hard Data on 501(c)4 Applications & Approval Numbers

From the Center for Public Integrity, May 14th:

The IRS’ Exempt Organizations Division, which finds itself at the scandal’s epicenter, processed significantly more tax exemption applications in fiscal year 2012 by so-called 501(c)(4) “social welfare” organizations — 2,774 — than it has since at least the late 1990s, according to an analysis of IRS records by the Center for Public Integrity.

Compare that to 1,777 applications in 2011 and 1,741 in 2010, federal records show. Not since 2002, when officials processed 2,402 applications, have so many been received.

And a later report, also from the Center for Public Integrity on May 20th, looked at data of approval rates over the last four fiscal years:

During its past four fiscal years, the Internal Revenue Service has formally denied the applications of just 60 organizations seeking recognition under Section 501(c)(4) of the U.S. tax code as “social welfare” groups.

In the same period, the agency processed 8,214 applications and approved 6,837 of them — about 83 percent, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis of IRS data.

Sometimes applications were neither approved nor denied, meaning groups could still be awaiting recognition of tax-exempt status or still be providing the IRS with additional information. They may also have withdrawn their applications.

And if you want to look at the numbers for all 501(c) Applications/Approval/Other for Fiscal 2012 - here's a PDF:
http://k001.kiwi6.com/hotlink/5363a09tp8/fy2012irseo.pdf

[Sunlei]

7. good find of the public info

"Internal Revenue Service has formally denied the applications of just 60 organizations"

wow, makes me want to start a church, or a pac or train my horse to dance, while I explain to people how to change a diaper. So I don't have to pay my state taxes to support republican bagger freeloaders

[YarnAddict]

6. I don't know what to believe about this

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/irs-targets-conservative-groups/

I saw this WP article a couple of days ago, and it struck me that this kind of disparity shows a valid complaint. It compares conservative groups approved vs. progressive groups approved over a 4-year period, and shows NO TP groups approved in 2011, while consistent numbers of progressive groups were approved over all four years.

[NewJeffCT]

9. Doesn't make sense to me

as there are tons of tea party groups out there, but far fewer progressive/liberal ones.