ACTION NEEDED: IRS writing regs that allow it to suppress the Tea Party and Constitutional Conservatives

Guest post by James Simpson

The IRS got caught with their pants down last year. So now they are writing regulations that will allow them to do legally what they were doing illegally before. Every time you think these people can sink no lower, they go out of their way to prove you wrong. A cabal of leftist groups sued the IRS demanding they adopt these regulations, whereupon the IRS went out of its way to comply. This is a classic set up. It was probably agreed to in advance between the IRS and the plaintiffs. Now that they are complying, the leftists have magically dropped their suit!

Here is how to fight back. The following was written by Cleta Mitchell, one of the best attorneys in this field. Read it, follow the instructions and pass them around. The following is reprinted verbatim with permission:

DON’T LET THE IRS SILENCE YOU!!

COMMENTS ON THE PROPOSED IRS REGULATIONS FOR C4 ORGANIZATIONS

ARE DUE NO LATER THAN FEBRUARY 27, 2014

Comments can be filed via email:

Submissions may be sent electronically via the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov

Include this citation: IRS REG-134417-13

That will take you to the IRS comments page where you can enter your comments. Be sure to include your name and address.

Tell the IRS it should hold public hearings around the nation on these regs

1. Rules are complex and impose huge burdens on 501c4 groups to calculate and report to IRS many (if not most) normal c4 activities…that will not be counted toward primary purpose if these are adopted.

Tell the IRS:

• it is impractical, burdensome and unacceptable for the IRS to interject itself into the inner workings of every citizens group in the country

• the IRS is supposed to be collecting revenues, not snooping and trampling on the First Amendment rights of the citizens

• we are not subjects and we are permitted to engage in First Amendment activities without reporting those activities to the IRS

2. The activities that the IRS would now define as ‘candidate-related political activities’, subject to taxation and reporting to the IRS, are basic 501c4 activities:

• Grassroots lobbying
• Candidate forums
• Candidate debates
• Voter registration
• Voter guides
• Issue advocacy

Tell the IRS these rules are unacceptable because they would:

• keep citizens from holding their public officials accountable

• silence citizens and chill the very purpose of grassroots groups

• create different rules and standards for different types of 501c groups, such that a charitable organization could do MORE than a grassroots group

• force citizens to get their information about candidates from 30 second tv ads and the candidates and the media – rather than from candidate debates, candidate forums and seeing public officials face-to-face in townhall and other meetings

• treat as candidate-related activities essentially everything that a grassroots organization does

• force organizations to remove legislative voting records from their websites in even-numbered years

• treat legislative voting records as a taxable, non-primary purpose activity of a c4 organization

• treat meetings with public officials as taxable events, even when the official appears as an “official” and not as a candidate

• treat internal membership communications as taxable, if there is a mention of a candidate or public official, if a group has more than 500 members who receive the communication

• declare certain activities to be ‘candidate-related’ political activities, EVEN if no candidate is mentioned

• allow labor unions, churches, universities, veterans groups, social clubs, business groups and others to have greater First Amendment rights than grassroots citizens organizations

• citizens groups shouldn’t have to pay taxes on protected First Amendment activities such as publishing voting records, grassroots lobbying and voter registration

Many other possible examples and reasons. Write your own. Call your congressman!

Join with other grassroots activists in fighting the IRS regs!

www.wewillnotbesilenced.org

Questions?
Cleta Mitchell, Esq.
(202) 295-4081 ofc
cmitchell@foley.com