Posted on 05/30/2014 3:38:10 PM PDT by Taxman
A lawsuit alleging that the IRS discriminates against pro-Israel groups will be allowed to move forward, a federal judge ruled this week in Washington, D.C.
The IRS has been fighting to quash the lawsuit filed in 2009 by pro-Israel group Z Street, claiming the court does not have jurisdiction to hear the matter.
However, Judge Ketanje Brown Jackson rejected the agency’s request to dismiss the case on Wednesday and ordered the IRS to respond to Z Street’s complaint within the next 30 days.
Z Street says its constitutional rights were violated by an IRS policy that allegedly singles pro-Israel groups out for stricter scrutiny when they apply for tax-exempt status.
According to the lawsuit, an IRS official told Z Street’s lawyer in 2009 that the group’s application for tax-exempt status would be “sent to a special unit in the D.C. office to determine whether the organization’s activities contradict the administration’s public policies.”
The IRS admitted last year that it had been targeting Tea Party and conservative non-profits for greater scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status. Officials blamed the practice on poor management and denied that it was part of any broader Obama administration policy.
Z Street’s complaint suggests that the IRS procedures for pro-Israel groups may have been politically motivated and based on Obama administration policy, and contends that the group’s first amendment rights were violated by the agency.
The IRS has argued for the case to be dismissed, claiming Z Street is seeking a determination of its tax-exempt status rather than a ruling on whether its constitutional rights were violated. But the judge rejected the agency’s argument in Wednesday’s ruling.
Judge Jackson wrote that the IRS’s arguments “rest on the characterization of Z Street’s claim as a complaint about tax liability, when it is not.”
She added that the agency has been “struggl[ing] mightily to transform a lawsuit that clearly challenges the constitutionality of the [IRS tax exemption] process … into a dispute over tax liability.”
Z Street president Lori Lowenthal Marcus applauded the ruling.
“We’re thrilled that Judge Brown Jackson firmly informed the IRS’s lawyers that the government is not immune from lawsuits for constitutional violations—that’s what the Bill of Rights is about, after all—and that the IRS will finally be required to explain, in court, how it justified creating a different category of tax-exempt applicants based on political viewpoint,” Marcus told the Washington Free Beacon.
“While it’s a shame we have had to wait four years for the IRS to finally provide factual responses to Z Street’s complaint, we look forward to a complete explanation for its actions and why not only its lawyers, but IRS officials themselves, provided information and defenses to the court that they either knew or should have known were not accurate.”
Ping!
If we went to the Fair Tax, how would we enforce ObamaCare? /S
I agree.
Obama has a seething hatred for Jews and for Israel. I’m not surprised that his IRS would persecute Jews, now that he has “more flexibility”.
That is but one of the more beautiful post-FairTax events!
FairTax eliminates Ophonybamcare!
No IRS, no Ophonybamcare!
Judge Ketanje Brown Jackson, an Odingo appointment, has some explaining to do.
We’re starting to get a good number of people in our court — first the Tea Party folks; now this group. Pretty soon we will even outnumber the bureaucrats! Pick your side.
FINALLY, the IRS MAY have pissed off the only group that could go to the mat with them. They’ve apparently forgotten that the Jewish community is FILLED with very smart JEWISH LAWYERS.
Just hope they stay the course!
You know, Dick, I have been fighting this battle since 1991.
The IRS overreaches keep coming, and the momentum for change keeps building.
I remember talking about how long it took for the progressive income tax to become law of the land - 1864 (1894, if you are a purist, but know ye that the Marxists were hard at work FRom 1864 until 1894!) until 1913, IIRC - and suggesting to folks that it would take at least that long to get rid of it.
I hope the IRS and the Ophonybama administration keep on pressing their LIEberal/Socialist/Marxist Fascist agenda!
Eventually, they will piss off enough of us to get the job done!
The more the merrier!
Tipping point is in sight!
LOL!
Ophonybama has a seething hatred for AMERICA!
Why do you think he is doing what he is doing?
But, HST, I agree that he does reserve a special hatred for Jews and Israel!
We need to keep stirring the pot.
Ophonybama and his LIEberal/Socialist/Fascist/Marxist hangers-on will continue their over-reach, and we’ll just get stronger and stronger!
These abuses of power by the IRS scream that we need to do away with the IRS.
But there are people who actually argue FOR this tax system.
That boggles my mind.
The ONLY people screaming for this tax system are corporations like GE
and people who pay NO taxes and get a huge refund EVERY YEAR
due to child tax credits!!!!!!
It’s been 2 or 3 years ago, KC, but I’m saying I argued on Free Republic with a few folks who were anti-fair tax (maybe during Cain’s popularity, now that I think of it) and were extolling the virtues of this current tax system over anything that could replace it.
People said metaphorically that the IRS is the Gestapo. Now it is no longer a metaphor.
I never said that!
I have always considered the IRS to be a Gestapo-like organization inasmuch as the Rule of Law does not apply to them.
Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
