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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCalls Grow for State and Federal Investigations into ALEC’s Illicit Activities
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/08/08/calls-grow-state-federal-investigations-alecs-illicit-activities.htmlCalls Grow for State and Federal Investigations into ALECs Illicit Activities
By: Rmuse
Aug. 8th, 2013
It is little secret that Republicans and their libertarian backers detest the idea of paying taxes, and over the past forty years one of their champions has been the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). In fact, ALEC wrote a model resolution for Republicans to push through Congress urging a permanent extension of Bush-era tax cuts they claimed spurred economic growth, allowed the spirit of entrepreneurship to flourish, and all while creating new jobs and opportunities for millions of Americans. The blatant lie that Bushs tax cuts for the rich created new jobs aside, the resolution revealed that ALEC is in the business of helping their corporate sponsors avoid paying taxes and it is little wonder why ALEC is being targeted for an investigation for illegally financing extravagant trips for state legislators and misleading the Internal Revenue Service about their illicit activities.
Two watchdog groups are asking the Internal Revenue Service and several state ethics committees to investigate ALEC for funneling corporate money through an ALEC slush fund to allow wealthy corporations to take a federal tax deduction for furnishing lawmakers and their families with luxurious trips at fancy resorts. One such meeting is the upcoming ALEC conference this week to celebrate the anti-democracy groups 40th year of assisting the richest corporations write and pass legislation beneficial to their privatization efforts and profits. The watchdogs complaints also charge that ALEC conceals the sources of slush funds from public view and obscures the amount of spending from the IRS by claiming that it holds the corporate funds in trust, all the while writing lawmakers checks to cover their trips.
The so-called scholarship fund ALEC uses to fund the lavish trips also raises serious questions about the corporate groups compliance with state gift and disclosure laws that in turn brings into question the legality of lawmakers ethics in accepting ALECs travel gifts and precipitated letters to state ethics committees. In question is whether Republican state legislators taking the fancy trips (bribes) disclosed the gifts on their state financial disclosures, or if they noted they originated from corporate donors seeking favorable votes on ALEC template legislation.
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ALEC has been on a crusade to increase profits for corporations and CEOs with corporation voted bills to rewrite the tax code that not only eliminates most taxes for the rich, but also starves state and federal governments of revenue. Despite their successful crusade in the states, they were emboldened to devise a way for their corporate donors to deduct political contributions to Republican legislators for their services through a slush fund and fraudulently filed tax returns that massively underreported and grossly misrepresented its scholarship scheme in violation of their 501(c)(3) tax exempt status.
According to an investigative report, ALECS member companies funneled at least $4 million for lawmakers since 2006 into the scholarship fund, and it is incumbent on the IRS and state ethics committees to uncover the malfeasance and prosecute the violators to the fullest extent of the law. It is important for Americans to remember that one of the worst criminals in American history eluded prosecution for years, and it was the Internal Revenue Service that finally put Al Capone in prison for the rest of his life for simple income tax evasion. Capone was a bad man guilty of hurting and killing many people, but he was a saint compared to the damage inflicted by the American Legislative Exchange Council on the American people and democracy, and it is possible the IRS can take them down for tax evasion as well.
Turbineguy
(37,322 posts)But some of us realize that taxes are part of the cost of living in a civilized society. And the benefits of a civilized society outweigh the costs. Republicans don't want to live in a civilized society. They want to live in an armed society.
babylonsister
(171,059 posts)KoKo
(84,711 posts)the new person in charge might be corporate friendly....I wonder how long it will take to do this investigation. In the meantime Alec is almost 3/4ths of their way through remaking many States to their own blueprint. North Carolina has been so devastated that I doubt we can get back what we've lost in voting rights, education, health care and liberties.
Tax Code would seem a good way given that Citizen United Decision allows Koch and Alec to do what they want...but, it depends on the New IRS...and the character of the new Director.
Thav
(946 posts)"and funnel tax revenues into the coffers of corporate sponsors" after "... ALEC is in the business of helping their corporate sponsors avoid paying taxes"
They have model legislation that does just that - privatizing schools. Corps get revenue from the dept of education, and have very little oversight or responsibility to actually deliver on that money.
hue
(4,949 posts)ALEC's (and other RW organizations like the Heritage Foundation) covert operations have been going on for quite awhile.
For 40 yrs. the average citizen was under the assumption that legislators actually represented them and their interests. Meanwhile an elite group of the very wealthy were actualizing their corporate advantages and accumulating massive stockpiles of wealth-->now mostly off shore in tax havens where it may never be taxed.
Wounded Bear
(58,648 posts)starroute
(12,977 posts)The same small number of names keep coming up over and over. The Heritage Foundation, ALEC, the State Policy Network (an umbrella group of conservative think-tanks), the Collegiate Network (which sponsors conservative campus newspapers), the Capital Research Center (the source of most anti-ACORN propaganda and of Glenn Beck's elaborate conspiracy theories), and Morton Blackwell's Leadership Institute (the main right-wing school for dirty tricks) are all closely connected, have overlapping advisory boards, and engage in joint projects.
Add in the people who are part of Ginni Thomas's Groundswell, and you pretty much have the whole ball of wax. They're just very good at making themselves seem larger and more influential than they really are. Having access to lots of corporate money can do that.
octoberlib
(14,971 posts)Almost all the horrible bills that were passed in NC this past legislative session were ALEC model bills. Glad to see this.
indepat
(20,899 posts)Scuba
(53,475 posts)indepat
(20,899 posts)basic humanity imo. But that's what right-wing governance for the better part of the last one-third of a century begets: our society is wholly fucked in the short-, near-, and possibly long-term. All hail the magnificent gipper and his reichous-wing vision for America.