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Townhall
Finance
The
IRS Scandal: Just Another Day
at the Office
By Michael Schaus
May 31, 2013
We
should be crystal clear on the
IRS scandal: while the targeting of conservative groups is grotesquely
reminiscent of a banana republic technocracy, the larger problem is the
inherent authoritarian nature of America’s Internal Revenue Service.
There are
certainly specific chapters of this growing scandal that promise to
highlight
the thuggish nature of our current Administration, and even more
chapters that
promise to expose the righteous infringement of government power; but
the fact
remains that, even in its most secular and non-partisan form, the IRS
continues
to be the most un-American institution most of us will encounter in our
lifetime.
According
to the Daily Caller:
Publicly
released records show that
embattled former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman visited the White
House at
least 157 times during the Obama administration, more recorded visits
than even
the most trusted members of the President’s Cabinet.
In
fact, the unprecedented number
of visits become even more appalling when they are compared to George W
Bush’s
relationship with the agency. Bush met with Shulman’s predecessor only
once in
four years. Although, in all fairness, Bush may have been a little too
busy
running the country to fit in a business lunch with the director of the
IRS.
Maybe Obama just had some questions regarding tax-deductible golf
expenses?
Of
course the extremely cozy
relationship between the White House and the Internal Revenue Service
does not
bode well for the Administration. But we would be wise to keep in mind
that
this is merely the symptom of a larger problem
According
to McClatchy Newspaper’s
Washington Bureau, a group of anti-abortion activists in Iowa were
forced “to
promise the Internal Revenue Service it wouldn’t picket in front of
Planned
Parenthood.” Once again we (as freedom loving Americans) should feel a
chill
run down our spine. Tax exempt status being used as leverage for the
elimination of someone’s First Amendment rights.
Again. . . This is a symptom. This is
not, by
itself, the cancer that is consuming our American tradition…
Read
the rest of the article at
Townhall Finance
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