Richmond Tea Party provided 500 pages of documents to the IRS as application for tax-exempt status. No response for 1 yr. IRS then had 12 more questions with 53 parts, and demanded names of volunteers. RTP had similar treatment from the City of Richmond. Like Media Matters, "Occupy" Richmond was treated as a branch of government.
2/16/12, "PRESS RELEASE: Outrageous IRS Demands"
"For Immediate Release
February 16, 2012
Contact: Andreanna Anastasiou
800-394-5885
media@richmondteaparty.com
As with Other Liberty Groups, the IRS Is Bogging Down Richmond Tea Party’s Application for Tax-Exempt Status with Unreasonable Documentation Requests
The Internal Revenue Service has served Richmond Tea Party (RTP) with unreasonable requests to obtain a tax-exempt status, fitting the pattern of the Federal Government’s forcing liberty groups to spend inordinate time and money complying with their demands during this critical 2012 election year.
On December 28, 2009, RTP applied to become a 501(c)(4) organization. After nearly ten months, the IRS finally responded with a letter (dated September 17, 2010), requesting detailed documentation to satisfy 17 questions, giving RTP only a two-week window in which to finish. (As the response was curiously due on the opening day of the inaugural Virginia Tea Party Convention, for which RTP was a central organizer, we requested and received a two-week extension.) We fully complied, providing over 500 pages of documentation. We received no response for over a year. Eventually the IRS sent a letter dated January 9, 2012, thanking us for our “complete and thorough responses” from the first request, but then asking us to answer 12 additional questions in 53 separate parts, including the totally inappropriate request for a full list of our donors and volunteers. We were given the same two-week timeframe for completion. It should be noted that this most recent letter was issued on the same day that the IRS issued a new 45-section bulletin regarding applications for tax-exempt status.
This illustrates everything the American people find unacceptable from their government. A simple request for tax-exempt status should not take years to complete, involve hundreds of pages of documentation, require hundreds of volunteer hours, and request private information we should never have to disclose. This grants the Federal Government the dangerous power to selectively stymie those voices with which they disagree, bogging them down in endless paperwork and compliance costs so that they are unable to spend time serving the principles they founded their organization to advance.
RTP is consulting its attorneys for how best to respond to this overreach from the Federal Government. In the meantime, we stand with the Ohio Liberty Council in calling on Congress to investigate whether or not the IRS is operating under specific instructions to delay the granting of tax-exempt status for Tea Parties and similar organizations. We would also call into question the specific rules and regulations—not bulletins—that the IRS uses so that all organizations can clearly see the metrics for determining a successful application. We will be contacting our own federal legislators to these ends.
Especially in light of the recent report by The Daily Caller about Media Matters—a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization that is alleged to be coordinating its messaging with the White House—we intend to see this critical issue through. RTP stands with other liberty groups across the nation to use this issue to highlight yet another example of how powerful our Federal Government has become and the arbitrary and capricious use of that power to silence their opposition.
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Here are the letters from the IRS: 9/17/2010; 1/9/2012." via Atlas Shrugs
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Already strapped Richmond taxpayers were forced to pay many thousands for expenses and damages arising from local Occupy group including costs for police, helicopter, incarcerations,"24-hour police protection of the Mayor’s home after the Occupiers moved their camp next door to the Mayor’s house," among other items. The Richmond Tea Party of course didn't cost the taxpayers a penny. As soon as they spoke up about this....surprise! They were audited.
11/28/11, "Richmond City Audits Local Tea Party After Standoff with Mayor," BigGovernment.com, Colleen Owens
"Two weeks after the Richmond Tea Party delivered an invoice to Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones for costs incurred for previous rallies, we received a letter from the City of Richmond formally stating that the city is auditing our Tea Party. Coincidence? This audit is an obvious attempt to intimidate and harass us for standing up against the unfair treatment and discrimination against our Tea Party....
Apparently his mayoral duties included preferential treatment for a group he sympathizes with ideologically
- at the expense of the taxpayers.
The blog Virginia Right reported that the city provided services such as portable toilets, trash pickup, etc. The incomplete invoices obtained from the city totaled $7,000. This was only a portion of the actual costs to taxpayers because the costs of police, helicopter and incarcerations were not included. Also not accounted for was the 24-hour police protection of the Mayor’s home after the Occupiers moved their camp next door to the Mayor’s house. The Richmond Tea Party, conversely, paid for all services for our rallies, including the police, portable toilets, park fees and permits,
- amounting to approximately $8,500."...
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Update, 11/30/11, "Career Race-Baiters Target Richmond Tea Party," American Thinker, M.. Catherine Evans (A commenter notes Richmond is free to become the next Detroit if it chooses.)
Richmond Mayor Jones favored Occupy groups, said he's "a child of civil rights" and protests. Numerous US cities followed Richmond's example treating Occupy group campouts the opposite of how they treated Tea Party single day rallies.
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11/6/11, "Occupy Richmond's special treatment weakens democracy," Richmond Times-Dispatch, John Pride, commentary
10/27/11, "Richmond tea party: Charge Occupy protesters or refund $10,000 we spent to rally in Virginia," AP
10/27/11, "Tea Party to Mayor: Make ‘Occupy Richmond’ Pay Up," Washington.CBSLocal, Richmond, Va.
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