By Robert Knight
As part of his powerful screeds against English rule, founding
father Thomas Paine had this to say about the King’s appetite for his subjects’
tax money:
“There is scarcely a necessary of life that you can eat,
drink, wear, or enjoy, that is not there loaded with a tax. Even the light from
heaven is only permitted to shine into their dwellings by paying eighteen pence
sterling per window annually.”
The late author John Armor, who compiled Paine’s best
writings into a remarkable book entitled These
Are the Times that Try Men’s Souls, noted that Americans might wonder today
whether our situation more closely conforms to that of Britain’s hapless
taxpayers under George than to the freedoms won by America’s revolutionaries.
King George’s enforcers might even be envious of the
powers acquired by today’s Internal Revenue Service, which has been abusing President
Obama’s political opponents with Chicago-style muscle.
Insisting that everyone does it, Maryland Democrat Rep.
Elijah Cummings has declared the IRS scandal “solved,” and has urged us to
“move on.”
Let’s connect some dots to a few things that Mr. Cummings
thinks are not newsworthy.
About 300 organizations between May 2010 and May 2102 were
targeted by the IRS for special scrutiny, according to the Treasury
Department’s Inspector General.
Of these, only six had the word “progressive,” and all
six had their applications approved. A foundation run by Barack Obama’s brother
got quick approval and retroactive tax exemption status. Another 14 groups with
“progressive” in their names received no extra scrutiny.
By contrast, 100 percent of the groups with “Tea Party,”
“Patriot” or “9/12” in their names received special scrutiny and endless information
requests. True the Vote’s Catherine
Engelbrecht and her husband were subjected to 17 investigations by federal
agencies.
In February 2010, according to USA Today, “the Champaign Tea Party in Illinois received approval of its tax-exempt status from the IRS in 90 days, no questions asked. … There wouldn't be another Tea Party application approved for 27 months. In that time, the IRS approved perhaps dozens of applications from similar liberal and progressive groups…”
And it’s not over.
Read more.
Posted on Tea Party Unity on July 9, 2013
