Tea Party News

With the IRS scandal dominating the news this week, "Saturday Night Live" closed out their 38th season with a political bang.

The scandal surrounding the IRS' targeting of conservative groups continued to swirl Friday, and for a moment, a local organization became the focal point of a key hearing of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Justin Binik-Thomas wanted to know why a question about him was among 35 the Liberty Township Tea Party was instructed by the Internal Revenue Service to answer as part of the organization's application for tax-exempt status last year.

Jay Devereaux hadn't paid much attention to the daily drumbeat of partisan politics in D.C. He wasn't a Washington nerd, and didn't know who said what during congressional hearings -- nor did he care.

Congressman Michele Bachmann Thursday called the various scandals facing the White House "far worse than Watergate," blaming the Obama administration for "direct actions taken against Americans who sought to exercise their free speech rights under the First Amendment." Bachmann, who ran for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination and currently chairs ... (more)

It was an unusual way for the IRS to deliver bad news, even in a town known for its selective leaks, Friday-night news dumps and wag-the-dog distractions: the now-infamous planted question.

Virginia's activist conservative attorney general beloved by the tea party for his aggressive challenges to federal mandates has won the Republican Party's gubernatorial nomination by acclamation.

David Simon, of "The Wire" fame, once responded to the idea of "doing more with less" by saying, "That's the bullshit of bean counters who care only about the bottom line.

Finally! Some of the corruption in D.C. and of its private affiliates, such as the IRS, is beginning to surface in mainstream media.

Sarah Hall Ingram served as commissioner of the office responsible for tax-exempt organizations between 2009 and 2012.

One of the biggest revelations in the Treasury Department inspector general report on the unfolding IRS-tea party debacle is this: The IRS staffers vetting hundreds of tea party groups and conservative outfits seeking nonprofit status for potential political activity weren't themselves sure what they were looking for.

President Barack Obama on Thursday chose a White House budget official to lead the beleaguered Internal Revenue Service and vowed to ensure that the tax-collection agency will not single out any more groups based on their political beliefs.

Unlike some nonprofit groups that have obtained tax-exempt status to help influence elections with millions of dollars in TV ads, the Greenwich Tea Party Patriots of South Jersey say they have no desire to flood the airwaves.

A tea party group says the Internal Revenue Service asked about its involvement in efforts to verify signatures in the effort to recall Wisconsin Gov.

Dozens of tea party groups and other conservative organizations of the kind subjected to improper scrutiny by the Internal Revenue Service operated with small budgets and rarely displayed overt partisan activities, according to an Associated Press review of public tax filings by 93 such activist groups.

Tea Party leaders and lawmakers in the House Republicans' Tea Party Caucus rallied Thursday on Capitol Hill, expressing alarm over the IRS's targeting of conservative groups that applied for tax-exempt status as 501 social welfare organizations.

People on the right and left are appalled by the IRS's inappropriate targeting of Tea Party non-profits. The IRS Conservatives, in particular, are calling for harsh consequences - Michele Bachmann floated impeachment of President Obama on Thursday, though she wasn't fully ready to commit.

Local Tea Party blasts IRS scrutiny Beaumont Enterprise Copyright 2013 Beaumont Enterprise.

In addition to standard questions that organizations face when applying for tax-exempt status, a handful of tea party organizations told CNN they were asked probing questions about the websites they maintained, literature they use for research and future activities the groups had planned.

By Melissa Daniels | PA Independent HARRISBURG - Both of Pennsylvanians U.S. senators said they want to see the IRS investigated for its targeted treatment of conservative political groups.