A few weeks back the Richmond, VA Tea Party invoiced their city after they learned that the city had allowed the occupiers to protest without filing any permits or getting insurance. When the Tea Party held its protests in 2009, the city’s permits and insurance requirements cost the Tea Party about $10,000. Since the occupiers were getting preferential treatment, the Tea Party wanted their money back.
Richmond’s response: A tax audit.
In the audit letter signed by Cynthia Carr, Field Auditor for the City of Richmond, it states that our Tea Party is delinquent in filing of Admissions, Lodging, and Meals Taxes with the city and as such our group has been targeted for a comprehensive audit. Well, aren’t we special? In fact, as part of the Business License we have with the City, a form is filled out by our treasurer every month (as required). We have never charged admission or had lodging or meals associated with our rallies. Every month the forms are appropriately filled with zeros. Ms. Carr goes on to say that if we don’t respond within 15 days, the City will make a statutory assessment–meaning they’ll pick an amount to charge us.
The city has, to date, required none of these things of the occupiers. The city’s auditor should be job shopping.
Definately time for a cvil suit with massive penalties.
The city’s auditor also should be lawyer shopping.
The City of Richmond has continuously elected some of the worst government officials in existence. The counties surrounding the City of Richmond are [generally!] well-run but there’s a reason that the City itself is the hole in the donut and partisan hackery like this is part of it.
When I first saw this headline I thought, “That is so unfair. An audit just for the Tea Party?! While the overwhelmingly white Occupy mob camps out outside the black mayor’s house?”..Then I saw it was the Meals tax…oh, of course. No, the Tea Party isn’t special. We have in Richmond what we call a War on Fun. Ask any club promoter. No matter how biased against the Tea Party this may appear to outsiders, (trust me your friendly neighborhood anonymous Internet commenter)-this is business as usual.
“Ask any club promoter. No matter how biased against the Tea Party this may appear to outsiders, (trust me your friendly neighborhood anonymous Internet commenter)-this is business as usual.”
Except that, according to the article,
1. there have been no lodging, meals or admission associated with any tea party rallies.
2. Despite that, they have been filing the paperwork as required.
3. And this is the big one, the OWS has not filed the same paperwork, nor have been required to file for permits or insurance coverage.
I cant wait for the city to explain in court how they justify disposing of content neutral policies.
You’ve stated nothing I disagree with…yet still, it’s business as usual. The meals tax regulations in the city of Richmond is a tool of overzealous tax enforcers. It’s abuse has ramped up particularly in the past year but has always been a sore point with businesses.
But how is the city supposed to know that there haven’t been any lodging, etc.? They only know what is reported to them… on the form that wasn’t filed.
The group acknowledges filing A form, not necessarily THE form that is being referenced.
And three points to OWS not filing forms: one, nobody other than the city and the group itself knows if they’ve filed, maybe they have, maybe they haven’t. two, cities are much better at picking up on forms not filed by groups registered with the city than they are at picking up on what is being off the books. three, even if OWS hasn’t filed, that doesn’t absolve the Tea Party group from filing the forms they’re supposed to. Or are they asking for a bailout?
Buzz- You are entirely correct. However, my point still stands…thanks for depressing me so.
The auditor should be facing a jury and then long, long yeas of jail time.
I’m now located in Colorado Springs. The occupiers of the main park didn’t fill out paperwork until they had been there a while. They did get a conditional use permit for one month, and they were removed after that. They did occupy the park for quite awhile without permits. Some do-gooder organization wants to raise money to upgrade the park. My thinking is we should identify all government officials who should have removed the occupiers. When ALL of those officials are out of office, then we should upgrade the park. Why upgrade it now, when the occupiers could come back, and nobody will protect the park?
Responsible adults every where need to identify those government officials who allowed illegal occupations to occur, and to take steps to remove them from office.
Doesn’t the Richmond branch have a lawyer or two willing to do pro-bono work? FOIA requests, court filings, and frequent publicity (maybe a recall petition with abuse of power as justification?) in local media should endear her to her superiors. This ought to be a PR gift to an enterprising lawyer.
Any potential Equal Protection issues here? Maybe the Tea Party should go back out there and see how they are treated.
Conservative legal teams need to swing into action quickly. This can’t be allowed to stand.
The City of Richmond and the Mayor of Richmond and its former Mayor, former Governor and former Democratic National Committee Chair and current Senate candidate Tim Kaine are about to be dispatched with malice.
I guess we’ve hit the point when it’s [fleetingly] safest to keep quiet.
Interesting definition of “safe”
I like the way the letter “respectively requests the following information”.
I don’t necessarily blame the auditor on this one. I would bet that the directive to audit the tea party was issued from on high, especially considering how much the mayor loathes the group. Even if she knows it’s wrong, if she were to do the right thing and refuse to run the audit, she’d have lost her job, so what choice did she have? Everyone involved, from the auditor all the way up to the person(s) issuing the order, needs to face consequences for abuse of their authority.
“I vas only follovink orders” stopped working 70 years ago.
Not really in this case, Voyager. My experience working as an Excise Tax Auditor is that these letters are form letters. If the entity has a license that falls within the audit realm they get the letter with appropriate headers and closings. Many audits are assigned which means the lead doesn’t have a choice.
That said, this is a classic – politically targetted – audit and the Powers That Be should be roasted. I’d be interested if the audit actually has any field work/work papers/findings…all should be covered under FoIA and should be demanded by all concerned citizens
(that’ll make the political aspect very painful for the PTB(s) that ordered this one)
Apologies, Voyager. The comment should have been direct to SDN.
Hard to tell whether its typical government harrasment to shake down a group for additional fees or a selective misuse of government power. Thats how bad it is these days!
Revenge of the walking {politically} dead ?
So the city near me is taxing Tea Party types for income they never made on work they never did. Great. What a stain the city government has become.
Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit has an excellent suggestion:
“I’d at least do a state FOIA request on all communications relating to this action. Also, the local Tea Party should drop by the Mayor’s house, since the ACORN and Occupy people have established that as a perfectly acceptable protest tactic.”
I suspect that if the Richmond Tea Party does this, while things will get ugly, they City will fold.
Rich Vail
Pikesville, Maryland
the Vail Spot dot Blogspot dot Com
The Occupy Richmond movement has already moved into the lot next door to the mayor’s house.
Hillary Clinton sums up this type of action succinctly:
December 28, 2010 | Associated Press
“U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton led a chorus of political figures in the United States and Europe in condemning the ruling, saying that it raised “serious questions about selective prosecution and about the rule of law being overshadowed by political considerations.”
When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.
This is the kind of arbitrary, capricious enforcement that fuels contempt and disrespect for government. It’s primary role is to protect the liberties of it’s citizens. Instead, it uses the power of government to target citizens, as if they were enemies of the state.
This is in keeping with the tone set from the top. How many states are now being sued in the name of we the people for dealing with the immigration problem. How many are being penalized for seeking a waiver from Obamacare? The corruption is now open and brazen. This is why people no longer trust the integrity of their institutions.
Reagan once said, “We are a people with a government, not the other way around. We need a government that stands by our side, not rides on our back.”
The proper Richmond response to this would have been to charge the OWS the same fees that the TP paid, not persecute them.