(Was it advertisements like this that landed Billy Graham an Obama IRS audit?)
The man known as America’s pastor was among those targeted by the Internal Revenue Service after the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association ran newspaper advertisements promoting traditional marriage and biblical values.
“I am bringing this to your attention because I believe that someone in the Administration was targeting and attempting to intimidate us,” wrote Franklin Graham in a letter to President Obama. “This is morally wrong and unethical – indeed some would call it ‘un-American.’”
…Graham said on Sept. 6, 2012 they received notification that the IRS would audit their taxes.
New revelations that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) targeted Tea Party and conservative organizations for additional review and investigation--and that senior officials knew about the practice, despite earlier denials--have shed light on the IRS's aggressive investigation of a new pro-Israel group, Z Street, in 2010.
Z Street was started as a conservative counterweight to the Obama administration's favored pro-Israel group, the left-wing J Street. The leaders of Z Street were alarmed when their application for non-profit status with the IRS was subject to additional scrutiny, including probing questions about the group's views that indicated a high degree of skepticism--not toward the group's non-profit eligibility, but towards its substantive beliefs.
Remarkably, when challenged to explain its aggressive investigation, the IRS cited the possibility that Z Street might be involved in funding terrorism. As Lori Lowenthal Marcus of the Jewish Press notes:...(Continued)
