Bob Lord

Bob has mostly wound down his 39-year career as a tax and business lawyer (with a 1-year interruption to run for Congress in 2008 (CD3), when he tried to unseat John Shadegg. Bob now serves as the senior advisor on tax policy for the Patriotic Millionaires, a group of wealthy Americans who believe the light taxation of America's rich is destabilizing our democracy, and as an associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. Bob has been writing for Blog For Arizona since late 2011, concentrating mostly on federal issues, with an occasional foray into Arizona state politics.

Belated Thoughts on the IRS Non-Scandal

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Posted by Bob Lord

One question that received little focus during the entire IRS scandal was whether it had anything to do with the IRS' core mission — to collect tax revenue.

On the surface, the answer would be that it had nothing to do with collection of tax revenue. The funny thing about the tea party organizations that had applied for 501(c)(4) status is that they had done so to avoid disclosure, not to avoid tax. The tax advantage of 501(c)(4) status is that the income of the organization (interest, dividends, etc) is exempt from tax. But political orgainzations spend contributions shortly after receiving them. The actual income they generate through investment is negligible. So, the IRS efforts to root out their applications did not stand to increase tax collections.

Beneath the surface, however, I'm afraid, the main point of the IRS scandal was to hinder tax collection, and all the allegations made against the Obama administrartion were designed to attract attention and little else.

My Questions For Martha McSally

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Posted by Bob Lord After reading the posts and comments of my BfAZ colleagues, I'm left with the impression that Martha McSally may be a raging hypocrite when it comes to LGBT rights. Should I get worked up about that? If you've read my prior posts, particularly the ones about the Boy Scouts anti-gay policy, … Read more

Prediction: Zimmerman Serves Time, Eventually

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Posted by Bob Lord I'm not referring to the potential Justice Department case. If the Justice Department pursues Zimmerman for a civil rights violation, this post is a moot point. But assume that doesn't happen. Zimmerman right now is telling himself he better clean up his act, because next time he may not be so … Read more

Sometimes Calling It Right Sucks

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Posted by Bob Lord One month ago, I wrote a post entitled Prediction: Zimmerman Walks. I wish I'd been wrong, and actually thought at the conclusion of the trial that I would be. I had felt the beyond a reasonable doubt standard was to high a hurdle to be overcome in the face of a … Read more

Progressives And The Bright Shiny Object

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Posted by Bob Lord

RJ Eskew has a great piece up at Alternet, Are Corporations Trying to Distract Us While They Take Control of Our Economy?, where he makes far more eloquently than I did the point that it is now progressives who are getting distracted by social issues, particularly issues related to abortion rights and LGBT rights. Back in April, I wrote a post entitled A Sure Indicator of Dem Gutlessness, in which I made this suggestion:

Want to spot a Dem who won't stand up for progressive principles when it counts? This may sound counterintuitive, but watch for strong, loud, attention-grabbing progressive declarations on marriage equality and abortion rights. They're dead giveaways.

Eskew analogizes this to the phenomenon Thomas Frank explored in What's The Matter With Kansas, where Kansans (and others) were bamboozled by conservative politicians to vote against their own economic interests based on concerns over abortion rights and same sex marriage. Eskew identifies a breed of progressive today could be called a "reverse Kansan":