The entire point of this IRS investigation is for Republicans to link it to President Obama for the coming Spring impeachment proceedings.
I find this to be one of many issues lost to a false first premise. After all, the point of a 501(c)(4) exemption is that the organization must exist primarily to promote social welfare.
The Tea Party exists primarily to denigrate and destroy the very concept of social welfare. So please, any organization that is linked in any way to the Tea Party should not be scrutinized but rejected immediately out of hand. End of story.
Section 501(c)(4)
Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(4) provides for the exemption of two very different types of organizations with their own distinct qualification requirements. They are:
Social welfare organizations: Civic leagues or organizations not organized for profit but operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare, and
Local associations of employees, the membership of which is limited to the employees of designated person(s) in a particular municipality, and the net earnings of which are devoted exclusively for the promotion of social welfare.
Types of Organizations Exempt under Section 501(c)(4)
Take note of how this hearing begins. The first words out of Congressman Darrell Issa’s mouth is to tells the IRS director John Koskinen to raise his hand “a little higher” for the oath. Which is only a few minutes before he calls Koskinen a liar to his face.
So my question is why IRS director John Koskinen did not respond with:
“Listen up Issa, you have now surpassed even Joe McCarthy as a complete a whole driven entirely by Republican political congressional witch hunts. And hey, eat my shorts.”