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| Muslim Groups’ IRS Files Sought | ||
| 2004-01-14 | ||
| EFL: The Senate Finance Committee has asked the Internal Revenue Service to turn over confidential tax and financial records, including donor lists, on dozens of Muslim charities and foundations as part of a widening congressional investigation into alleged ties between tax-exempt organizations and terrorist groups. Uh oh, you’re in trouble now! The request marks a rare and unusually broad use of the Finance Committee’s power to obtain private financial records held by the government. It raises the possibility that contributions to charities such as the Holy Land Foundation or the activities of such groups as the Muslim Student Association could be subjected to Senate scrutiny. An IRS official said the agency expects to comply with the request because the committee clearly has the statutory authority to examine such records. That, and the fact the Senate controls the IRS’s budget. The request includes leadership lists, financial records, applications for tax-exempt status, audit materials and the results of criminal investigations. Forward copies to Rantburg, please. The Senate-led probe follows more than two years of investigations by the FBI, the Treasury Department and other federal agencies into the activities of Islamic charities suspected of having ties to al Qaeda; the Islamic Resistance Movement, also known as Hamas; and other groups designated as terrorist organizations by the U.S. government. "Government officials, investigations by federal agencies and the Congress and other reports have identified the crucial role that charities and foundations play in terror financing," the committee’s leaders, Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and ranking Democratic member Max Baucus (Mont.), wrote in a Dec. 22 letter to the IRS. "We have a responsibility to carry out oversight to ensure charities, foundations and other groups are abiding by the laws and regulations, to examine their source of funds, and to ensure government agencies, including the IRS, are policing them and enforcing the law efficiently and effectively." Standard complaints follow: But many Muslim leaders and attorneys for the charities complain that the government’s tactics have unfairly smeared law-abiding Muslims and have dried up financial support for groups that try to provide medicine, As they say, it’s not a bug, it’s a feature "The Muslim community would view this as another fishing expedition solely targeting Muslims in America," said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in Washington.
Yes, if you give money to terrorist groups, you’re a target. Roger C. Simmons, a Frederick, Md., lawyer who represents the Illinois-based Global Relief Foundation, whose assets have been frozen by the government, said: "This kind of blanket request would further chill the tendency for American Muslims to give money. As far as the organizations themselves, I’m not sure what else they can do to them that they haven’t already done." I’m sure we could come up with a few things.
Dig deep, guys. | ||
| Posted by:Steve |
| #3 Robert Crawford - right on. Such auduts are deemed 'politically sensitive' at both the federal and state levels; I was routinely denied permission to perform such audits at the Mass. DOR, regardless of the actual audit issues. |
| Posted by: Raj 2004-1-14 12:21:05 PM |
| #2 Given the interest the IRS has shown in auditing "charitable" groups, I doubt they have much. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-1-14 10:37:44 AM |
| #1 If they think we're evil enough to be the 'Great Satan', then how evil would the 'Great Satans' satan be? I can't wait to see the reports the IRS has on these guys. |
| Posted by: Charles 2004-1-14 9:36:01 AM |