What If Lois Lerner Was Right About The Tea Party?
One GD thing after another and now we are on Day 542 of the IRS Scandal, by TaxProf count, with no end in sight. Here is the question that is troubling me right now thanks to the e-mails I have been getting from Jenny Beth Martin. If there is a pretty compelling case that Tea Party Patriots Inc was intended from day 1 to be a political organization, rather than a social welfare organization, would that make any difference in how we view Lois Lerner?
Government Coming Down Harder On Kent Hovind
I should preface this by saying that Kent Hovind’s troubles are pretty much of his own making. YEC supporters have encouraged Kent to stop fighting the IRS so he can focus his energy on “creation science”. Eric Hovind is following in his dad’s footsteps in arguing against evolution, but is not a chip off the old block when it comes to tax compliance. The website of his group Creation Today gives links to its Form 990 and even mentions its CPA firm.
With that said I really question the judgement of the government in going after Kent for making one more stupid filing. Frankly, if I was on the jury, they might have a hard time getting a conviction. There is stupid and stubborn and there is criminal. Plenty of tax related crime to fight elsewhere. If Hovind is convicted, he will seem like a martyr. If he is acquitted, it will look like a victory for tax defiers.
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Over and over again courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging one’s affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everybody does so, rich or poor; and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands: taxes are enforced exactions, not voluntary contributions. To demand more in the name of morals is mere cant.