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Daily Archives: September 6, 2014

Minority Staff Dissenting Views: IRS Targeting Tea Party Groups

“The Majority staff on the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has issued the foregoing report titled IRS and TIGTA Management Failures Related to 501(c)(4) Applicants Engaged in Campaign Activity. The primary conclusion of the Majority staff report is that, contrary to common understanding and widespread reporting, the IRS actually exhibited no bias in its review of conservative groups. The Majority staff report claims that the IRS targeted liberal and conservative groups equally and that a Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) report on the targeting of conservative groups was fundamentally flawed.  The Subcommittee Minority staff sharply disagrees with the conclusions reached by the Majority staff report. While some liberal groups were examined by the IRS from May 2010 to May 2012, there were far fewer such groups, they were systematically separate from the review of conservative groups, their questioning was far less intrusive, and, in some cases, the liberal
groups were affiliates of specific organizations like ACORN that had behaved illegally in the past and could reasonably expect additional scrutiny. The inclusion of a scant few liberal groupsby the IRS does not bear comparison to the targeting of conservative groups. Although the Majority and Minority have profound differences and were unable to come to an agreement in their analysis of this matter, the Subcommittee conducted its investigation through joint interviews and document requests and continued its tradition of in-depth fact finding and frequent consultations that are the hallmark of the Subcommittee’s oversight work and lead to a deepened understanding of key issues.”

Subcommittee Releases Report and Dissenting Views on IRS Handling of 501(c)(4) Applications

“Today, the Chairman and Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Senator Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Senator John McCain, R-Ariz., released a 224-page Report [PDF] summarizing the Subcommittee’s bipartisan investigation into problems with how the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has processed applications for tax exempt status under Section 501(c)(4) of the tax code. The… Continue Reading

‘Competitiveness’ Has Nothing to Do With It

Kleinbard, Edward D., ‘Competitiveness’ Has Nothing to Do With It (August 5, 2014). Tax Notes, Forthcoming; USC CLASS Research Papers Series No. CLASS 14-26; USC Legal Studies Research Papers Series No. 14-34. Available for download at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2476453. “The recent wave of corporate tax inversions has triggered interest in what motivates these tax-driven transactions now. Corporate… Continue Reading

Eight Traits of Great Trial Lawyers

Bennett, Mark W., Eight Traits of Great Trial Lawyers: A Federal Judge’s View on How to Shed the Moniker ‘I Am a Litigator’ (May 1, 2014). Review of Litigation, Vol. 33, No. 1, 2014. Available for download at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2491035 “A federal district court judge shares his 25 years of trial court expereince about the eight… Continue Reading

As Growth Stalls, Unauthorized Immigrant Population Becomes More Settled

“The number of unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S.—11.3 million in 2013—has stabilized since the end of the Great Recession in 2009, according to new Pew Research Center estimates. The marked slowdown in new arrivals means that those who remain are more likely to be long-term residents, and to live with their U.S.-born children. In… Continue Reading