Overcoming Obstacles to Tea Party Organization:

In my posting on Saturday October 19, 2013, I challenged Tea Party members to once again engage in the political battle facing our nation.  We discussed how we were able to achieve a great victory in 2010 when we were engaged and visible.  Then we discussed why the Tea Party mysteriously went silent in 2012 because of the time necessary to fight numerous IRS investigations.  In this posting, I want to begin addressing the obstacles that are in the Tea Party’s way.  The first obstacle we need to overcome is fear. 

As men, we like to put on fronts of fearlessness but in all honesty, there are things that cause us all to have fear.  I remember when I first met my wife in college.  I really wanted to ask her out but fear gripped me and somehow closed my mouth.  If my wife had not of asked me out, she probably would not be my wife today.  Tea Party Conservatives must ask themselves what do we fear that prevents us from effectively telling people about the conservative Constitutional foundation of this country. 

As we saw after 2010, fear of oppression from the IRS had a major impact on the Tea Party’s participation in the 2012 election.  As a tax preparer, I understand fully the very real fear of an IRS investigation.  I always make it a point to advise clients of the need to be able to document all of the income and deductions claimed on their tax return just in case they are called in for an audit.  I have actually had clients drop a deduction from their return or add additional income out of concern it will come up in an audit. 

Since our current tax code taxes income and allows certain deductions, being able to document these things is understandably something every taxpayer should be diligent to do.  However, what the IRS was doing to Tea Party organizations was a gross overstepping of their legal authority.  For example, the IRS asked one organization to reveal the content of their prayers.  (1)  The IRS also unfairly targeted 100% of organizations with the words ‘Tea Party’ in their names while granting progressive and liberal organizations almost immediate tax-exempt status.  (2)  These types of inquiries go way beyond the IRS’s authority as the nation’s tax collection agency.

Since the IRS will be heavily involved in the enforcement of the Obamacare mandate this year and with the disastrous roll out of the exchanges, the IRS will have its hands full as either they will be accessing a fine, or tax as the Supreme Court ruled it, or turning people to an exchange website that does not work.  I remember the uproar from clients last year when we had to tell of delays in the processing of their returns, and refunds because the IRS did not open up for business until January 31.  I believe that this year the IRS will be on defense instead of offence and to use a football analogy, you cannot score if you do not have the ball. 

It will be interesting to see low information voters who have not been paying attention to politics suddenly face the reality of having to pay a fine or buying health insurance through one of the exchanges.  Then they will encounter the incompetency of the government they love when they have difficulty logging onto the website.  Then, when they finally get through, they will see that the Affordable Care Act is anything but affordable.  I believe that the next government server farm and phone bank to go down will be the servers and phones at the IRS as people call to lodge their complaints.  This will definitely keep the IRS busy and serve to deflect their attention away from harassing tea party organizations.   

Then, the IRS recently admitted that it paid out up to $13.6 billion dollars on bogus refunds in 2013 and as much as $132.6 billion in the past decade.  (3)  This new allegation already has members of Congress bringing into question the IRS’s ability to administer Obamacare, which has the potential for even greater fraud as people attempt to qualify for subsidies by understating their incomes.  We need to let our Representatives and Senators know about the fraud and potential for new fraud.  They need to call the director of the IRS up and have him or her tell us what they are doing to end this fraud.  This too is a way to keep the IRS on defense. 

With the IRS on defense, the Tea Party will be free to begin its fund raising activities and rallies.  This could not occur at a better time.  What better time to be seen in the media condemning the incompetency and lies of government then when the previously uninformed voter has seen a fine assessed on their tax return, seen the incompetency of our government to set up a website, and the lies when they find out the price of the plans on the website.  That is when the Tea Party needs to be very visible presenting a better way. 

What is that better way?  Taking control of health care out of the hands of government and introducing free market competition, just as we currently do with our car insurance.  I remember when my wife lost her job and we were looking at ways of saving money.  One of the places I found savings was by shopping for more affordable car insurance.  Without any government assistance, I was able to go online and shop from websites of insurance companies, websites that actually worked.  I even found a policy that cost half of what I was previously paying with a zero deductible.  This is an example of what happens when there is no government intervention and the free market functions as a free market. 

The Tea Party has a window of opportunity to get out its message this tax season as citizens face the reality that their government does not work and is lying to them.  Let us get busy Tea Partiers and Political Avengers and do not let fear prevent us from getting the message out while we have this captive audience. 

1. Spiering, Charlie. Congressman: IRS asked pro-life group about 'the content of their prayers'. washingtonexaminer.com. [Online] The Washington Examiner, May 17, 2013. [Cited: May 17, 2013.] http://washingtonexaminer.com/congressman-irs-asked-pro-life-group-about-the-content-of-their-prayers/article/2529924.

2. Jones, Susan. IG: IRS Targeted 100% With 'Tea Party' in Name; 30% With 'Progress' or 'Progressive' - See more at: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/ig-irs-targeted-100-tea-party-name-30-progress-or-progressive#sthash.T2Z7b1RT.dpuf. cnsnews.com. [Online] CNS News, June 27, 2013. [Cited: July 20, 2013.] http://cnsnews.com/news/article/ig-irs-targeted-100-tea-party-name-30-progress-or-progressive.

3. Dinan, Stephen. IRS wastes billions in bogus claims for Earned Income Tax Credit. www.washingtontimes.com. [Online] The Washington Times, October 22, 2013. [Cited: October 22, 2013.] http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/22/irs-paid-132B-bogus-tax-credits-over-last-decade/.