Corporations large and small, LLCs, organizations, individuals get audited by the IRS all the time. In fact, in 1984 I was audited by the IRS.
Now it's Breitbarf's turn to be audited and they are whinning like hell about it. Not to worry though because Ted Cruz sent a letter to the IRS interrogating them about their auditing of Breitbart.
Yeah, Ted Cruz.
Don't they have their own paid lawyer to do help them with this sort of stuff?
Ted Cruz is Senator for Texas and Breitbart is not incorporated in Texas.
News Network, LLC was incorporated in 2011 and is based in Los Angeles, California.
From California Secretary of State website
Entity Name: BREITBART NEWS NETWORK, LLC
Entity Number: 201122210229
Date Filed: 08/10/2011
Status: ACTIVE
Jurisdiction: DELAWARE
Entity Address: 8383 WILSHIRE BLVD STE 1000
Entity City, State, Zip: BEVERLY HILLS CA 90211
Agent for Service of Process: C T CORPORATION SYSTEM (C0168406)
Agent Address: *
Agent City, State, Zip: *
Why did Ted Cruz send the letter to the IRS and not a senator from California?
I called Senator Ted Cruz to find out. The Washington DC office of Ted Cruz said
They did not know if Breitbart called Senator Cruz,
They did not know how many times people from Breitbart spoke with or emailed Ted Cruz,
They did not know if Ted Cruz was being paid,
They did not know how many private companies incorporated within Texas Ted Cruz interrogates the IRS audit division for,
They did not know how many private companies incorporated outside of Texas Ted Cruz interrogates the IRS audit division for.
Bottom line, the DC office of Ted Cruz didn't know crap.
I seriously want to know: Is Breitbarf paying Ted Cruz to be their attorney? Did they contact Ted Cruz and ask him to write the IRS?
Naturally, Breitbarf and Ted Cruz are doing their best to sensationalize this
"The Obama administration's timing on this is exquisite, but try as they might through various methods to silence us, we will only get more emboldened,” Stephen K. Bannon, executive chairman of Breitbart News Network, said in a written statement.
LMFAO ... um ... Bannon, no one wants to silence you. We enjoy reading the BS rants that Breitbarf post on their blog.
Ted Cruz wrote
"In another time, under another Administration, the decision to audit a conservative news organization might not have risen to a worrisome level of concern,"
Translated
"In another time, under [a white] Administration, the decision to audit a conservative news organization [would] not have risen to a worrisome level of concern,"
From Fox
A copy of the IRS notice to Breitbart News, obtained by FoxNews.com, asked about the company’s financial information for calendar year 2012.
The IRS asked for a litany of documents, including logs of its receipts and expenses, but also its partnership agreement and a “written narrative” of the business.
Fox did not post the IRS notice, but, from what they report, it sounds like your basic, everyday audit to me. So why is the narcissistic Ted Cruz demanding to know why the IRS is engaging in a "
far reaching, burdensome, open-ended audit"
Here is a copy, in full, of the letter Ted Cruz sent on behalf of Breitbarf.
Dear Commissioner Koskinen:
I write to express deep concern over the recent announcement by Breitbart News that the Internal Revenue Service recently notified the Breitbart News Network, LLC that it would be subject to a far-reaching, burdensome, and open-ended audit.
As you know, the Breitbart News Network LLC is a conservative-leaning press outlet. It has editors and reporters who cover daily political news and regularly breaks stories that are critical of the Obama Administration's policies. To conduct this audit, Breitbart News Network, LLC was asked to provide the IRS with all of its organizational documents, financial records, W-2s, W-4s, 1099s, and K-1s filed, personal income tax returns for each member of the company, payroll tax forms, information regarding properties and assets acquired by the company, bank statements, and array of other records documenting revenues, expenses, and depreciation costs.
This media audit, coupled with the recent proposal of 49 Senate Democrats to amend the Constitution to give Congress plenary power to regulate political speech, paints a disturbing picture of a coordinated assault on the First Amendment.
In another time, under another Administration, the decision to audit a conservative news organization might not have risen to a worrisome level of concern. However, given the IRS's disturbing track record of illegally targeting conservative organizations-including the IRS recently paying a $50,000 settlement for having wrongfully leaked a conservative group's confidential tax information-and the persistent refusal by the current Department of Justice to meaningfully investigate or prosecute those crimes, the decision to audit Breitbart News Network, LLC appears highly questionable.
For the IRS to behave like a partisan political organization, targeting media organizations whose views differ from the President's, would represent a gross abuse of power. It would undermine the statutory mission and integrity of the IRS. And it would likely subject IRS employees to criminal prosecution.
I very much hope that is not the case.
I would therefore like to ask you the following questions:
1. How many other news organizations have been audited since President Obama has been in office?
2. How many of them could be identified as conservative- or liberal-leaning?
3. Have any other news organization been subjected to this sort of far-reaching and oppressive inquiry, including requesting the personal tax records of editors and reporters?
4. At what point does the IRS decide to take action to audit a news outlet?
5. Does the IRS worry that its extremely burdensome auditing process could effectively silence the press?
6. Previously, Senator Durbin wrote the IRS asking that it examine the tax-exempt status of Crossroads GPS, a Republican organization that spends money electing Republicans. Did the IRS ever receive any communications from any elected official asking it to examine Breitbart News Network, LLC?
7. Who, precisely, is responsible for making the decision to audit Breitbart News Network, LLC?
I appreciate your timely response.
Sincerely,
Ted Cruz
United States Senator
(emphasis added by diarist)
The list from the IRS audit looks like the list all corporations, individuals etc., get when they are audited. Nothing "
far-reaching, burdensome and open-ended audit" about it.
Notice how Ted Cruz ignorantly compared a Tax Exempt Org, Crossroads GPS, to a private LLC in his letter to the IRS? What a buffoon.
Politico reported:
In response, the IRS said it couldn’t comment on specific cases, but that audits are based exclusively on tax law.
“Federal privacy laws prohibit the IRS from commenting on specific taxpayer situations,” the IRS said in a statement. “The IRS stresses that audits are based on the information related to tax returns and the underlying tax law — nothing else. Audits are handled by career, non-partisan civil servants, and the IRS has safeguards in place to protect the exam process.”
Obviously making the letter Ted Cruz sent public is a stunt. But, I really do want to know if Breitbarf asked Ted Cruz to act as their lawyer and is Ted Cruz being paid by Breitbarf?
In my opinion, Breitbarf is a failed blog site trying to avoid being audited and Ted Cruz is a failure of a human.