Day 19

I have been watching the IRS hearings on CSPAN and if you have never been to this channel it is a direct video of what is going on in the Senate or House.  They have no filter of the news to blur what is going on so you may pretty much make up your own mind on what you think of what is going on.  This is perfect for me because I like to be able to go on my own gut what to think rather then taking sides.  The witnesses that they have assembled are all from groups that were delayed or not yet approved for the tax exemption status.  To me there is no doubt about the political leanings of these groups.  One is about stopping gay people from getting married and they claim to be in the business of educating people about how wrong it is to have gay people get married.  I find this group to be a very offensive and political group that is not working as a charity at all and does not deserve to be given a tax exempt status but they got it any way it was just slow in coming.  There are two others that have Tea Party in their names and we know that they are a political group and that they are not serving as a charity serving tea to the poor.  There is another group that had Liberty in their name and they were claiming to be “educating” people about the constitution.  For me if this is your goal your best bet would be to ask to speak at the schools and “educate” the children there about your truth on the constitution.  The woman that was representing this group was more then happy to respond to questions from the members of the GOP but did not want to be as forth coming with her answers when questioned by a Democrat.  The specific question that was asked her that she completely avoided answering was “Tell me what you think is a political group and what is a charity group. “  She started fumbling and said we are in the business of educating people on the constitution and when asked to answer the question for a second time she could not answer and then the GOP chair cut him off in questioning her saying his time was up something I did not ever see when there was someone from the GOP asking the questions.  I was outraged so very much by the fact that these groups were allowed to not have to pay taxes.  They are in the political game and nothing they are doing to me could be considered charitable.  There was one senator there that said that this hearing was only pointing out the fact that there is a much needed change in the tax code that to me should be wiped completely and they need to start over.  Making all the forms very simple and ones that a third grader could fill out.  These representative groups that were involved in this “scandal” none out of the 6 that were there deserved to be exempt from taxes and only two were still pending.  There political agenda oozed out of them like a thick syrup.  The original intention of the law was that there not to be a political agenda.   This intention has been twisted to allow anyone no matter how political they are to get this exempt status.  The law was made back in the 1950’s and I am sure that the makers of the bill could never foresee that people would try to turn there law into something else completely.  I guess that if this is not going to change then the office that has been swamped with requests for exemption status can only expect even more of these groups from asking to have this status.  I could see individuals forming a group and donating all their money they earn to their own group and avoiding taxes on everything.  One of the representatives at the hearing said that much of the money that the group he represented was his own money so it must be starting already.  This he claimed in the open hearing.  Our tax code is so messed up and unfair to those that do not know how to or have the funds to work it, is almost unbelievable to me.  For those that pay taxes this process is completely offensive and disgusting.  Our law makers have failed us in so many ways but this to me is really the government at its worst.