GOP Bill Would Force IRS to Conduct Abortion Audits

[kpete]

Source: Mother Jones

Fri Mar. 18, 2011 12:01 AM PDT
GOP Bill Would Force IRS to Conduct Abortion Audits
Were you raped? Was it incest? And other questions the government's tax cops would have to ask women who've terminated pregnancies.

Under a GOP-backed bill expected to sail through the House of Representatives, the Internal Revenue Service would be forced to police how Americans have paid for their abortions. To ensure that taxpayers complied with the law, IRS agents would have to investigate whether certain terminated pregnancies were the result of rape or incest. And one tax expert says that the measure could even lead to questions on tax forms: Have you had an abortion? Did you keep your receipt?

............................

The proposed law, also known as H.R. 3, extends the reach of the Hyde Amendment—which bans federal funding for abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or when the life of the mother is at stake—into many parts of the federal tax code. In some cases, the law would forbid using tax benefits—like credits or deductions—to pay for abortions or health insurance that covers abortion. If an American who used such a benefit were to be audited, Barthold said, the burden of proof would lie with the taxpayer to provide documentation, for example, that her abortion fell under the rape/incest/life-of-the-mother exception, or that the health insurance she had purchased did not cover abortions.

"Were this to become law, people could end up in an audit, the subject of which could be abortion, rape, and incest," says Christopher Bergin, the head of Tax Analysts, a nonpartisan, not-for-profit tax policy group. "If you pass the law like this, the IRS would be required to enforce it."



Read more: http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/03/gop-bill-irs-abortion-audits

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. But the GOP is totally opposed to "big government."

:eyes:

[liberal N proud]

13. They are just trying to get back into the womb

[Old and In the Way]

2. Why not just install webcams in everyone's bedrooms?

Then the GOP can monitor people having sex and put women on notice for follow-up pregnancy testing to protect the constitutional rights of blasto-citizens. It's a Brave New World that these idiots are creating.

[niyad]

5. ah, but not in the repukes'--their affairs would come to light

[tsuki]

10. Because the perverts would jerk themselves to death. nt

[femrap]

16. I think they'd have to put the

webcams in the womb....rapists are everywhere, after all.

Do you believe that our House of Representatives has passed this? We are no longer America. I don't know what we are. Secession may be the only way to go.

[niyad]

3. the woman-hating bastards are out in full force. I used to think "the handmaid's tale" was at least

a little bit off in the distance. but it arrived with this last election.

[JackintheGreen]

9. I just read it last month for the first time

and was frightened. It's exactly what some of these people want.

[Old and In the Way]

4. If the IRS is busy being state sponsored nannies, they'll have no time

to go after tax-cheats. It's a win-win for the Republican Party.

[Solly Mack]

6. Foul, brain diseased, pox infected piles of shit.

[femrap]

17. +1000

You're getting closer to what these 'people' are. Waste of flesh...

I like the 'pox infected'.....may I borrow for further use in their description?

[Solly Mack]

34. You may. :)

They are a waste of flesh, oxygen, space...

[nichomachus]

31. And those are the moderate Republicans

[Solly Mack]

35. Teehee!

[Angry Dragon]

7. The Regressive party has pushed the envelope of stupid

How do these people function day to day??

[savalez]

28. That's Cry-baby-boner for ya'!

[LoZoccolo]

8. But there's no difference between Republicans and Democrats, right? n/t

[No Elephants]

37. Not nearly enough, but having that straw person show up on any thread possible never gets old.

[nichomachus]

44. +1

[LoZoccolo]

47. Facts never get old.

Do you want to start an OP saying that it doesn't matter whether or not women have to disclose to the government the reasons for their abortions? That that's a strawman? Would you be willing to take responsibility for denigrating the importance of their privacy? Would you follow through on your statement and be accountable for it in front of the women on DU?

[Pacifist Patriot]

11. So unspeakably offensive and vile it boggles the mind.

[stockholmer]

12. as opposed to the 'aborted audits' that the SEC and DOJ 'do/dont do' on the bankster's fraud

:argh:

[femrap]

14. I need the list of the

'humans' who voted for this bill. Then I will tell them to have vasectomies. And the women who voted for this.......SHAME.

I'm simply horrified by the depths of their hatred and cruelty. May viagra blind them all.

[No Elephants]

38. No vote yet.

[hifiguy]

15. Why can't you circumcize a Republican?

Because there's no end to those pricks.

How I hate and despise these "people."

[nwduke]

18. We had better start seeing the veto pen from Obama.

[Mopar151]

19. They keep going......and going

Jesus Christ. these goobers never let up. Punish, Punish, Punish, it's all they seem to fathom - what do they think, an IRS audit is f'n theraputic?

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[AlbertCat]

24. Are we back to the 1950's yet?

No.

If we were, the tax rates would be higher.

[No Elephants]

39. No, but give 'em time. In the 50s, a doc could be arrested in some states for giving a married

couple a pamphlet including info on birth control.

[SemperEadem]

21. more governmental intrusion by the party that is against more governmental intrusion

oh, does that only apply to males and their tax money?

[niyad]

30. white christian males and their money

[No Elephants]

42. Do you have any indication that a Republican member of Congress would vote pro-choice

on grounds of being Jewish, Muslim, atheist, Buddhist, etc., or female or a person of color?

(typo edit)

[kestrel91316]

22. I say give it to them. The resulting backlash will be the END of the Republican party.

[Frisbee]

25. I believe there have been at least...

a dozen things in the past year that "will be the END of the Republican party". They seem to do this shit, and once they move on to the next abomination, most people forget what they've done in the recent past. I really just don't get it.

[apnu]

27. I'll explain it to you.

Most people are stupid. Which is, partly, be institutional design and, partly, by personal preference. I know many people, considered "successful" if you judge solely by credit ratings and the size of checkbooks, who are willfully ignorant and stupid. They go out of their way to not know something. And when I give them simple facts, without opinion or bias, just fact, they've said "I don't want to know that." and then willfully ignore what I said. It is a remarkable thing to see first hand.

They are also stupid by institutional means because the TV keeps them dumb and distracted to what's actually happening. Also, the American educational system sucks from top to bottom and left to right. And its getting worse if the GOP has anything to say about that.

(Also I know you're being rhetorical, but I really needed to pitch a bitch on this topic)

[Old and In the Way]

45. The party is slowly sinking into the shallow end of the gene pool.

Not fast enough, if you ask me. This has been going on for decades. They really don't have a moderate, liberal wing to balance their politics anymore. So, as more and more sane people exit their association with this party, what's left? A shrinking pool of anti-social idiots. Hopefully, the Party will soon be small enough to drown in a bathtub.

[No Elephants]

43. Not if Dems "give it to them."

[AlbertCat]

23. Well, as long as their creating jobs.....

... or something.... :eyes:

[Aerows]

26. Does the IRS not have anything better to do?

Like maybe go after tax cheats?

[droidamus2]

29. Wait a minute..

The only way the Government would have anything to say about what people do with their 'tax credits and deductions' is if they knew what it was going to be spent on prior to the people receiving it so how in the hell would they tie this to 'abortion'. Once people receive their tax credits and deductions, whether that be in the form of lower taxes or actual money, it is non of the damned governments, or should say Conservative Mepublicans, business what they do with it. What's next? Are they going to tell me that when I get my tax return it can't be spent on beer or tequila or pot(oh wait that's a whole nother question). My one question is, Is it now required to be clinically insane to be a member of the Mepublican Party?

[DirkGently]

32. This whole theme needs to be reversed immediately. Abortion is LEGAL. Federal funds CAN be used.

[No Elephants]

36. Not merely legal, but a constitutional right women have.

[DirkGently]

40. A better way to put it, yes.

[No Elephants]

33. Which other constitutional right is burdened to the extent this one already is?

And if Congress can pick and choose which constitutional rights to single out and burdern, which is next?

What do these questions have to do with US revenues or income taxes?

One more attempt by Congress to nullify a constitutional right by mere legislation, in violation of the supremacy of the constitution over all other U.S. law, the constitutional powers of the federal judiciary and our tri-partite government framework.

[City Lights]

41. What. The. Fuck. !!!

:wtf:

[toddwv]

46. Aren't these the douchebags who didn't want to fill in information on race on census forms?

Because it was too intrusive?

[glinda]

50. Maybe they will change all the questions to personal ones. Then they can arrest more easily.

[tanyev]

48. Wait, I thought they wanted to do away with the IRS.

[glinda]

49. Now this is a story that should be in every news outlet possible.

Let the people see what a bunch of idiot mean sobs they hired.

[Qutzupalotl]

51. Check my sig line. n/t

[MH1]

52. There are some sick assholes in the republican party. nt.

[Lorien]

53. I want the Feds to audit how much they've spent on their mistresses and prostitutes. nt