IRS Severs Ties with ACORN (Updated)
[Guest post by DRJ]
The Internal Revenue Service has severed ties with ACORN, saying it “would no longer include ACORN in its volunteer tax assistance program” that offered “free tax advice to about 3 million low- and moderate-income tax filers” this past spring.
The IRS may have a spotty record on accuracy but it called this one right.
— DRJ
UPDATE 9/24/2009: The Treasury Department’s IG announced a “review of community organizer ACORN and IRS oversight of nonprofit organizations as a whole.”
Just as well. I have a rule, you see…
I never use as my tax-preparer anyone who currently has any tax liens levied against them…
Scott Jacobs (d027b8) — 9/23/2009 @ 8:15 pmHo, ho, ho!
Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (0ea407) — 9/23/2009 @ 8:29 pmMaybe they should start their audits with the ACORN filings …
JD (12ebb1) — 9/23/2009 @ 8:33 pmFrom the linked, by Scott Jacobs, article,
Gazzer (22ecdc) — 9/23/2009 @ 8:35 pmACORN spokesman Scott Levenson did not reply to repeated requests for comment.
Hmm, he has been strangely quiet of late. I wonder why? Certainly not busy picking up chicks over at Fox, any more…
“free tax advice to about 3 million low- and moderate-income tax filers”
Didn’t I hear that ACORN was charging these people $150 for this “free” service?
AD - RtR/OS! (97af1e) — 9/23/2009 @ 8:50 pmEven Barney Frank has deserted the sinking ACORN ship.
Frank issued a long statement defending himself against charges that he is is a chief ACORN benefactor. He said he would have voted to defund the group and did not read carefully the letter he signed, and says the Bush administration funded ACORN
Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (0ea407) — 9/23/2009 @ 8:51 pmThe same person who handed Barney that letter also handed Van that petition to sign about 9/11.
Or, doesn’t anyone in DC read shit that is put in front of them?
AD - RtR/OS! (97af1e) — 9/23/2009 @ 9:10 pmThe sheer childishness of the Left amazes me. “Bush did it” is some kind of excuse?
On the other hand, Bush bashing worked pretty well, didn’t it?
Eric Blair (184ac1) — 9/23/2009 @ 9:12 pmAD,
I’m fairly certain ACORN didn’t counsel all 3 million people. I assume there are several organizations and individuals participating in the IRS program. But it would be interesting to know how many ACORN helped.
DRJ (b008f8) — 9/23/2009 @ 9:58 pmI still would like to see a list of all ACORN previous names along with its new name, COI (something like Community Organizers International) and the 400+ affiliate corporations or whatever they’re called. It would be interesting to see what all those other organizations did and are doing. Ya know?
John Hitchcock (3fd153) — 9/23/2009 @ 10:11 pmLet me do an Alinsky here. ACORN is an unpatriotic organization. Joe Biden said it is patriotic to pay your taxes. ERGO, it is unpatriotic to help people avoid paying those taxes.
You can lead a Liberal to knowledge, but you can’t make them think.
PCD (1d8b6d) — 9/24/2009 @ 5:40 amACORN doesn’t pay the IRS the taxes it collects from its employees, and the IRS pays it to give tax advice.
http://jammiewearingfool.blogspot.com/2009/09/so-acorn-doesnt-have-tax-issues.html
Who else does the IRS rely on to give people tax advice?
Amphipolis (b120ce) — 9/24/2009 @ 6:04 amIf King Tut is closing down Acorn just to squash an investigation, I hope the corruption will still come out. Otherwise the umbrella groups and quick name change would be politics as usual for this bunch.
Vermont Neighbor (19728f) — 9/24/2009 @ 7:53 amIf you read your history you will find out that there has been going all the way back to Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall a strong link between the Democrats ans whatever criminal enterprises were operating in the big cities. The press doesn’t report on this much and a lot of honest folks solved the problem for themselves by moving out to the suburbs. Three possibilities as to why the press does what they do.
1. Lazyness and incompetence
glenn (757adc) — 9/24/2009 @ 8:31 am2. Bias
3. Getting a piece of the pie.
Just as I predicted, a “study” by two left-wing academics, Christopher R. Martin and Peter Dreier, has made the MSM — without any disclosure of the professors’ own political views.
The link at Dreier’s name goes to an article he wrote defending ACORN and calling for more activism, published in August by The Nation, “We Need More Protests to Make Reform Possible.”
“In recent years, right-wingers have been more willing to protest, whether their allies were in or out of power. With Obama in the White House and the Democrats in control of Congress, they’re exercising their memory muscle for creative dissent–and getting more media coverage than their liberal counterparts. . . .
“How can progressives help put an end to this legislative gridlock? What can we learn from the experience of the Depression and the New Deal?”
Yes, just two professional academics, who have no political motives whatever in defending ACORN and attacking conservatives.
Don’t expect to find this context in any MSM article on the subject.
Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (0ea407) — 9/24/2009 @ 8:37 amAARP provides free tax preparation for seniors. Not that I belong or have used their services. Don’t know if this is an IRS approved service though.
PatAZ (9d1bb3) — 9/24/2009 @ 8:40 amUm…Bradley? You should look into Peter Dreier. You just found the tip of the university partisan indoctrination iceberg.
Eric Blair (184ac1) — 9/24/2009 @ 8:47 amEric, thanks.
I know there’s a lot more, but we all need to start somewhere. You just know if these were conservative professors attacking ACORN, the media would be damn sure to affix the scarlet C to their names.
I put up a brief post at A Brief History.
Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (0ea407) — 9/24/2009 @ 9:12 amProfessor Dreier is…um…predictable in a number of ways. He and ACORN are well, like peas in a pod?
Eric Blair (184ac1) — 9/24/2009 @ 9:16 amThe IRS may have a spotty record on accuracy but it called this one right.
They’re hoping “severing ties” will make it go away. They still need to prosecute the mothership, every single worker who aided and abetted tax fraud, and the beneficiaries of their advice.
Matador (ad4464) — 9/24/2009 @ 9:16 amEvery day, we find another revenue stream to ACORN drying up. Pity.
JD (9d8cb8) — 9/24/2009 @ 9:42 amThere is the scent of cover-up in Mississippi where it has been revealed that MS AG Jim Hood, a Democrat, has supposedly had ACORN Mississippi under investigation for potentially fraudulent activities.
The fact that an investigation was underway was previously unknown publicly and now Hood isn’t commenting.
http://www.fox40now.com/news/local/61133027.html
Zbo (6f65bd) — 9/24/2009 @ 10:34 amACORN gave MS AG Jim Hood, a Democrat, a grade of ‘A’ in 2008 which may explain why he has not aggressively pursued charges against ACORN Mississippi.
http://acorn.org/fileadmin/ACORN_Reports/2008/agreport.pdf
Zbo (6f65bd) — 9/24/2009 @ 11:16 amI’ve updated the post with a Fox News report about an investigation by Treasury’s IG.
DRJ (b008f8) — 9/24/2009 @ 1:44 pmOuch. The AP put out a press release for the LAT and their new Opinion editor. They actually used the typo ‘Lost Angeles Times.’
Vermont Neighbor (b8912c) — 9/24/2009 @ 2:03 pmThe newspaper says his new title is opinion editor-at-large. The Lost Angeles Times, owned by Chicago-based Tribune Co., is the fourth-largest daily newspaper in the U.S.
[…] by KingShamus on September 24, 2009 Via Patterico, some more fun news about our favorite community organizers: The Internal Revenue Service has severed ties with […]
IRS: “Ummm ACORN, you’ve got cooties” « Blog de KingShamus (c67638) — 9/24/2009 @ 2:43 pmObama’s little rotten ACORN is a criminal enterprise.
bill-tb (365bd9) — 9/24/2009 @ 4:36 pmAnd, plus, the IRS has plenty more time to do its own advising since they exempted Congress and White House officials from penalties for not paying taxes. After all, it was Turbo Tax’s fault!
Patricia (c95a48) — 9/25/2009 @ 10:44 am