Category Archives: income tax
Endless Phony Scandal Parade
The president made another pivot back to the economy and away from phony scandals.
IRS Song and Dance
IRS lavish spending on conferences included this video. Meanwhile the agency harassed conservative groups. An anti-abortion group was ordered not to protest near Planned Parenthood in exchange for its tax exemption and was asked intimidating questions.
“The questioning included requests for copies of Facebook postings, the content of prayers, political beliefs of members, résumés of board members and dealings with the media.”
Trend Setter
“He put a target on our backs, and he’s now going to blame the people who are shooting at us?” asks Idaho businessman and longtime Republican donor Frank VanderSloot.
The WSJ’s Kimberly Strassel says the IRS scandal goes to the top. The president publicly implied enemies were out to get him and that set the tone.
Vandersloot was a wealthy contributor to the Romney campaign. He was subjected to searches of his divorce records and 3 IRS audits. He spent $80,000 defending himself.
Taking the Fifth on Your 1040
You don’t have to belong to a right wing constitutional group to suspect Lois Lerner pulled a fast one when she claimed she was innocent and then took the fifth.
The IRS has placed her on paid administrative leave.
Update: Here’s a Mark Steyn column about Lois Lerner signing off on, and backdating, the tax exempt status of a foundation run by the president’s brother. He also notes that you have no fifth amendment rights when it comes to the I.R.S.
Bite of the Apple
Apple CEO Tim Cook was dragged to the U.S. Senate to apologize for his success. While his company paid $6 billion in U.S. taxes last year it paid little if anything on it’s overseas stash. All perfectly legal. Even the president doesn’t pay more than he owes.
Rand Paul said the Senate ought to apologize for the dog and pony show, but Carl Levin was having none of that as he took a crack at American pensions and 401ks by insisting that Apple send more money to foreign countries.
