Friday, April 11, 2014

Ron Paul Letter Warns IRS Is Attempting to Shutdown Campaign for Liberty

On Ron Paul letterhead a very unusual email message has gone out to Ron Paul followers. It begins:

Dear Patriot,

This is one of the toughest letters I’ve ever had to send.

For years, people have joked that the three most feared letters in the English language may well be these . . .

I – R – S.

But today, I’m not laughing.

Just days ago, the IRS handed Campaign for Liberty a hefty fine and DEMANDED we turn over sensitive contributor information.

If we don’t comply with the IRS’ outrageous demand for sensitive donor information, I’m afraid we’ll face additional fines that could cripple Campaign for Liberty and perhaps even force us to shut our doors.

But, Patriot, I’m not naïve. I know where this is headed.

The statists at the IRS know I’ll NEVER EVER turn over confidential information about Campaign for Liberty’s donors without a fight.

Instead, this is likely just the first in a long line of UNCONSTITUTIONAL and likely ILLEGAL “excuses” this rogue government agency will use to try to shut us up and shut us down by FINING us to death.

So I have a decision to make - a critical decision that could affect Campaign for Liberty’s very survival in the months ahead.

Do I fight on? Do I risk everything? Do I tell the statist IRS to go fly a kite?

Or should Campaign for Liberty just pay up, keep our head down, and hope this never happens again?

Patriot, I need you to tell me what to do today.

The letter goes on to, naturally, ask for a contribution. But was that the sole purpose of the letter? Or was it an attempt by Ron Paul Inc to get ahead of  news that they know will soon be public that the Ron Paul campaign is refusing to turn over its list of camapign contributors?

To be sure, from a libertarian perspective, there is much wrong with camapign laws, but does anyone make a contribution to a politically related organization without realizing their name will be reported? Indeed, the C4L donation page makes clear that data is being collected because of federal law:
Federal Law requires us to use our best efforts to collect the following information for each donor.
The C4L letter  raises many more questions than it answers and is one more indication that it is going to be one hot and sticky summer for Ron Paul Inc. Many questions come to mind about the letter.

Given the many things that C4L can fight against, a battle that can jeopardize the organization's very existence, as the letter suggests, seems like an odd battle to fight, especially when it has already disclosed to donors that it is collecting data as a result of federal law. Or is there something about the contribution list that C4L doesn't want to disclose for other reasons?

Is this letter really a desperation plea to see if C4L can raise enough money to keep the organization running and if enough money isn't  raised, C4L will use the IRS demands as a reason to close the doors?

Is the IRS request somehow linked to the grand jury investigations going on around Ron Paul Inc.?  It is hard to believe that the IRS would, at this time, target an organization for political reasons, given that calls  are being made to charge former IRS employee Lois Lerner for her refusal to testify about various alleged crimes surrounding her role as head of an IRS division that reviewed applications for tax exemption and allegedly delayed tea party related exemption approvals. Would any IRS employee in this environment attempt to harass C4L at this time without significant back up?

We will probably have answers by this summer to all kinds of things about Ron Paul Inc. and Truman Capote warned about summers:
Hot weather opens the skull of a city, exposing its white brain, and its heart of nerves, which sizzle like the wires inside a lightbulb. And there exudes a sour extra-human smell that makes the very stone seem flesh-alive, webbed and pulsing.- from Summer Crossing
The smell will be real and the pulsing stone may not be a good thing, if it is a once silent man turned co-operating witness.

8 comments:

  1. I would guess it's just an attempt to raise funds. If you observe Daniel McAdams from the RPI 4 P & P, he's constantly begging for cash. Also, it looks like on the ronpaulchannel.com all the vids are free now, the vid quality has dropped from 1080p to 480p and Ron doesn't interview anyone on video anymore. Cuttin' back with lack of funds/subs? If Ron was smart all he'd have to do is hire like 1 or 2 kids at most and conduct his interviews via skype and then have them edit it and post it to youtube & his site for very minimal cost.

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    1. The free market has decided that the ronpaulchannel and his institutes are a waste of wealth and resources.

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  2. My guess would be that the IRS wants the names so it can send a tax deficiency letter to people that may have taken a tax deduction should C4L be found not to be in compliance as a tax deductible organization.

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    1. C4L contributions are not deductible as a charitable contribution. Or as a business expense.

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  3. I get a lot of fundraising letters. Most of them have this same format. They try to create a sense of urgency or concern with hyperbolic rhetoric in order to get donors attention. Apparently it works because it's a very common tactic in fundraising. This seems like a fairly typical example of the genre and therefore is most likely just hyperbole.

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  4. So has anyone actually seen these demand letters from the IRS?

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  5. I have a headache from all this subterfuge and I begin to wonder if there isn't someone on the "Ron Paul, Inc" staff that hates Rand Paul and is trying to stir up a media blip that will reflect badly on HIM. Sigh........what a mine field is politics.

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  6. The C4L webiste did post the IRS letter showing the fine. Apparently C4L are in violation of rules governing 501(c)4 (political not-for-profit corporations), as they are required to release their donors to the IRS. The concern that C4L have is, the IRS may 'inadvertently' release this donor information to other organizations on the other side of the political spectrum (such as Democrats in power), who would then harass the donors, burying them in legal battles, etc. Such donors operate on a shoestring budget compared to the US government, who can print as much money as they would like to harass people into compliance. Such a climate of presumed intimidation would limit the ability of such organizations to get donations from people who believe in the issues for which the political non-profit organization is active.

    They're right there -- since I found out about this disclosure rule, my contributions to such organizations have dropped virtually to zero. Notwithstanding, I wonder if there isn't another way to get the federal government to respect people's privacy than committing political suicide like this. Maybe not, but the C4L people engage in a lot of these sorts of tactics. In my opinion, they'd enjoy a broader base of support if they did play by the rules, yet followed a policy of full disclosure. For example, they could tell potential donors on their website that they are required to disclose their identity to the IRS.

    And what the heck do the IRS need this information for anyway? Checking tax-deductibility claims for donors' tax returns may be one thing, but this is also covered by new requirements that donors get a statement from the receiving organization. So it would seem that this is yet another face of the massive dragnet policies that will cripple the US internationally if not checked (e. g. FATCA).

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