Obama IRS Tightening Noose on Tea Party Groups

Obama IRS Tightening Noose on Tea Party Groups

Wall Street Journal columnist Kimberly Strassel noted on Friday that Barack Obama and the IRS have a new plan to target Tea Party groups in advance of the 2014 elections.

During Thanksgiving week, the Treasury Department announced a proposal to limit the political activity of 501(c)(4) groups. The Obama Administration claimed that the plan was necessary to clarify confusing tax laws.

The House Ways and Means Committee investigators believe that the proposal was designed by examining Tea Party group applications, figuring out exactly how they proceeded, then limiting those very actions in the new proposal, thus shutting them out of the political process.

House Ways & Means Chairman Dave Camp said, “The committee has reviewed thousands of tax exempt applications. The new regulation so closely mirrors the abused tea-party group applications, it leads me to question if this new proposed regulation is simply another form of targeting.”

Tea Party groups, just as other tax-exempt 501(c)(4) organizations, have to prove that the majority of their work is for “primary” social-welfare purpose if they want to keep their tax-exempt status. The primary purpose of most Tea party groups is illuminating for Americans the size of government and the erosion of the Constitution. They do so through nonpartisan voter guides, speakers forums, pamphlets, or voter-registration drives.

full story at http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/12/15/Obama-IRS-Tightening-the-Noose-on-Tea-Party-Groups