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Wednesday, May 15, 2013

More on the IRS scandal...

Document: IRS ordered conservative educational group to turn over a list of high school and college students it trained

Federal government demanded a list of everyone a Tennessee organization had ever trained, or planned to train
Linchpins of Liberty mentors high school and college students and teaches them conservative political philosophy, but is not tea-party-linked
'Can you imagine my responsibility to parents if I disclosed the names of their children to the IRS?' asked the group's founder
IRS Inspector General report listed seven questions the agency should never have asked, but this wasn't one of them


By David Martosko In Washington


When a Tennessee lawyer asked the IRS for tax-exempt status for a mentoring group that trained high school and college students about conservative political philosophy, the agency responded with a list of 95 questions in 31 parts, including an ultimatum for a list of everyone the group had trained, or planned to train.

'Provide details regarding all training you have provided or will provide,' the IRS demanded. 'Indicate who has received or will receive the training and submit copies of the training material.'

That question was part ofthe tax collection agency's February 14, 2012 letterto Kevin Kookogey. founder of the group Linchpins of Liberty. He had submitted his application 13 months earlier.

'Can you imagine my responsibility to parents if I disclosed the names of their children to the IRS?' he asked MailOnline.

It's 'an impossible question to answer fully and truthfully,' he said, 'without disclosing the names of anyone I ever taught, or would ever teach, including students.


Like the leaders of many tea party-affiliated groups whose tax-exemption applications have become the subject of angry complaints, Kookogey called the IRS's inquisition an overreach, 'especially considering that my organization mentors high school and college students.'

It 'should send chills through your spine,' he told MailOnline, 'that the government would ask me to identify those I teach, and to provide details of what I teach them.'

The 13-month delay, while burdensome, was far shorter than those some other groups endured. According to a report released late Tuesday by the IRS's Office of Inspector General, the average delay at one point was 574 days...

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2324716/Document-IRS-ordered-conservative-educational-group-turn-list-high-school-college-students-trained.html#ixzz2TNvHtCQ2

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