January 31, 2005: Headlines: NGO's: Tax Exempt Organizations: IRS: MSNBC: IRS investigates NAACP over allegedly improper political speech
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January 31, 2005: Headlines: NGO's: Tax Exempt Organizations: IRS: MSNBC: IRS investigates NAACP over allegedly improper political speech
IRS investigates NAACP over allegedly improper political speech
IRS investigates NAACP over allegedly improper political speech
NAACP acts to block IRS investigation
Controversy is over allegedly improper political speech
The Associated Press
Updated: 1:09 p.m. ET Jan. 31, 2005
WASHINGTON - The NAACP, the nation’s oldest civil rights organization, is refusing to cooperate with an IRS investigation into whether its chairman made an improper political speech, charging that the timing of the probe was itself politically motivated.
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The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People said in October that the group’s tax-exempt status was under review after its chairman, Julian Bond, gave a speech that criticized President Bush.
In a letter to the IRS on Thursday, NAACP attorneys said the group will not hand over documents requested in the probe and argued that the IRS followed improper procedure by launching its exam before the group filed its 2004 tax return.
The letter said the tax examiners aimed to influence the group’s activities just before the November presidential election.
“We must conclude that the intention was to chill appropriate voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts, whether conducted by the NAACP or by other organizations that are targeted by similar examinations in the program,” they wrote.
The IRS has said it’s probing about 60 charities, churches and other tax-exempt groups for potentially breaking federal rules that bar them from participating in political activity.
In a letter to the House Democrats’ top tax writer in November, IRS Commissioner Mark Everson said the agency received two letters questioning political activity of nonprofit groups from members of Congress. None came from the White House or any federal political appointee.
Federal law prohibits the IRS from discussing specifics of tax return information or audits, but IRS spokesman Terry Lemons said groups investigated for potentially improper political activity span the ideological spectrum.
“Law enforcement decisions at the IRS are made without regard to political considerations,” he said. “Career civil servants, not political appointees, make these decisions in a fair and impartial manner.”
The NAACP said the IRS challenged as improper campaign intervention a Bond speech this summer because it condemned the president’s policies on education, the economy and the war in Iraq.
The civil rights group said it has a long history of criticizing presidents and their policies and that Bond criticized both political parties during the speech.
The IRS could request that the Justice Department ask a federal court to enforce the summons and hand over the requested documents.
© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
When this story was posted in January 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:
| Ask Not As our country prepares for the inauguration of a President, we remember one of the greatest speeches of the 20th century and how his words inspired us. "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man." |
| Latest: RPCVs and Peace Corps provide aid Peace Corps made an appeal last week to all Thailand RPCV's to consider serving again through the Crisis Corps and more than 30 RPCVs have responded so far. RPCVs: Read what an RPCV-led NGO is doing about the crisis an how one RPCV is headed for Sri Lanka to help a nation he grew to love. Question: Is Crisis Corps going to send RPCVs to India, Indonesia and nine other countries that need help? |
| The World's Broken Promise to our Children Former Director Carol Bellamy, now head of Unicef, says that the appalling conditions endured today by half the world's children speak to a broken promise. Too many governments are doing worse than neglecting children -- they are making deliberate, informed choices that hurt children. Read her op-ed and Unicef's report on the State of the World's Children 2005. |
| Our debt to Bill Moyers Former Peace Corps Deputy Director Bill Moyers leaves PBS next week to begin writing his memoir of Lyndon Baines Johnson. Read what Moyers says about journalism under fire, the value of a free press, and the yearning for democracy. "We have got to nurture the spirit of independent journalism in this country," he warns, "or we'll not save capitalism from its own excesses, and we'll not save democracy from its own inertia." |
| Is Gaddi Leaving? Rumors are swirling that Peace Corps Director Vasquez may be leaving the administration. We think Director Vasquez has been doing a good job and if he decides to stay to the end of the administration, he could possibly have the same sort of impact as a Loret Ruppe Miller. If Vasquez has decided to leave, then Bob Taft, Peter McPherson, Chris Shays, or Jody Olsen would be good candidates to run the agency. Latest: For the record, Peace Corps has no comment on the rumors. |
| The Birth of the Peace Corps UMBC's Shriver Center and the Maryland Returned Volunteers hosted Scott Stossel, biographer of Sargent Shriver, who spoke on the Birth of the Peace Corps. This is the second annual Peace Corps History series - last year's speaker was Peace Corps Director Jack Vaughn. |
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Story Source: MSNBC
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; NGO's; Tax Exempt Organizations; IRS
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