The chief counsel’s office for the Internal Revenue Service, headed by a political appointee of President Obama, helped develop the agency’s problematic guidelines for reviewing “tea party” cases, according to a top IRS attorney.
In interviews with congressional investigators, IRS lawyer Carter Hull said his superiors told him that the chief counsel’s office, led by William Wilkins, would need to review some of the first applications the agency screened for additional scrutiny because of potential political activity.
Previous accounts from IRS employees had shown that Washington IRS officials were involved in the controversy, but Hull’s comments represent the closest connection to the White House to date. No evidence so far has definitively linked the White House to the agency’s actions.
You can expect some fireworks tomorrow when the hapless Democrats attack the messenger instead of attacking the agency involved.
This news just confirms what we already know. It wasn’t some lower level employees who took it upon themselves to target tea-party groups. Instead they were following orders from DC.
See author page
The ironic thing about this story is that is just the tip of the iceberg. All the tip of the iceberg. All these scandals lead directly to the top-Obama. The IRS, Benghazi and the NSA all lead one place. Remember where the buck stops-Obama.
It doesn’t matter who knew about any of these, or who ordered what. Just like all of the others, there won’t be any investigation or prosecution. This is why a Political Crimes Tribunal needs to be set up. It would work just like the War Crimes Tribunal, except it would go after politicians who committed crimes while in office, and there would be no statute of limitations.
On an unrelated issue, but one of the other sandals – the survivors of Benghazi had to sign agreement to keep quiet. That explains that they are hiding.
With everything else – ALL scandals are beginning in the white house originating with Jarrett, followed by her puppet Obama and, then holder.
They found a patsy and he’ll get a wheelbarrow full of money. All this corruption comes from the top. Deception and betrayal for all freedom loving Americans.
There is no scandal, except in the republican imagination.
While you were watching the Zimmerman trial, the narrative about the IRS targeting Obama’s enemies has been thoroughly debunked
Republicans don’t like the IRS. They don’t like Obama. Basically, this entire bogus scandal is a political effort to damage both. Their intentions regarding the IRS should be entirely obvious:
Last week the republican House majority passed a bill that would cut IRS funding by 24 percent.
This comes after previously cutting the IRS enforcement budget, in spite of the fact that the most recent studies indicate a $2.6 TRILLION tax gap as of 2006. In other words, lawfully owed federal taxes have been evaded to the tune of $2.6 trillion dollars.
How should honest tax payers who pay what is lawfully due every year feel about that?
How should we feel about republican politicians who essentially abuse their elected offices by aiding and abetting tax cheats in this fashion?
I’m really curious.
@Greg:
Odd, then, that the Republicans didn’t go after the IRS when they held control of both the House and the Senate, as well as the Oval Office.
Good, it’s an over bloated agency that does not earn its keep. Time to cut the budgets of all those agencies. Why do we need FIVE agencies to handle Indian Affairs when there should have only been ONE? Nothing like making federal employees appreciate the taxpayer funded salaries they get by getting rid of some of them.
And how should we feel about federal employees, who get a paycheck on time each and every payday, about owing billions of $$ in back income taxes? Or do they all use the Timothy Geithner Turbo Tax system?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/08/federal-employees-back-taxes_n_2839212.html
I gave you HuffPo, Greggie, because you would claim another source was simply lying to be hateful toward Democrats.
@retire05, #7:
The IRS is the agency responsible for collecting funds that are used to operate the entire government. Only a total idiot—or a crooked politican—would want to cut IRS enforcement funds that were already at inadequate levels, when there’s a federal deficit problem and an estimated $2.6 TRILLION in uncollected taxes.
IRS enforcement spending is about the BEST use of federal tax dollars any honest taxpayer could want. It has been calculated that every $1 spend on IRS enforcement—going after the cheats—yields $6 in additional federal revenue.
So what’s up with House republicans? Are they as abysmally stupid as they would appear to be, or are they currying favor with tax cheats who would rather not have to play by the same rules everyone else does?
Darrell Issa has certainly been personally benefiting from his concocted IRS “scandal.” One obvious, indisputable benefit has been the money flooding into his campaign chest from appreciative donors, who don’t like the IRS either. Then, of course, there are the potential benefits further crippling IRS enforcement could have for a politician who pulled in around $60 million last year, if he played fast and loose with a few tax laws. (I don’t have any evidence of that, but not having proof doesn’t stop Darrell Issa from making slanderous accusations against the President, so I’m sure he’ll understand.)
Maybe Darrell Issa should get an audit, just to make sure this entire IRS scandal scam isn’t a matter of monetary self-interest as well as cynical partisan political interest. What the hell… To avoid accusations of partisan bias, why don’t we audit everybody in the House? I’ll take my chances on who gets nailed as a result.
So, federal workers, for what ever reason, owe around $3.5 billion in back taxes. It’s a known figure, apparently. The thing about being a federal worker or federal retiree is that money you owe can be garnished from your paycheck or pension benefits. Federal employees are hardly among the most likely to escape paying what they owe.
BTW… What percentage of $2.6 trillion is $3.5 billion?
I come up with less than 2 tenths of 1 percent.
It’s not federal workers who have created the tax gap problem. That would be the people Darrell Issa and the House republicans are protecting.
As republicans love to point out, corporations are people, too.
@Greg: #6
As usual, you give no links to back this up.
That’s 76% short of what they should have cut it. FAIR TAX.
This has been going on for as long as I can remember, and I am in my 60s. The Fair Tax would end this. Irritate the republicans and the democrats and ask your politicians to enact the Fair Tax, which is in both houses of congress right now.
I think the Left is confusing ”scrutiny” with “targeting.”
Of course all sorts of groups’ applications got scrutinized.
But I have heard of no liberal groups who have complained of being left hanging for months and years without a decision (to challenge).
OTOH even Lois Lerner, herself, admitted that CONSERVATIVE groups’ applications were kept from being finished so as to prevent them from effectively operating when they needed to most: pre-elections 2010 and 2012.
Inspector General Russell George explained that the term ”progressive,” was on a slide presentation for an IRS training program.
BUT I have seen no proof that any progressive organization didn’t get a decision (after proper scrutiny) within a few months or a year at most.
I also noted that the entire Dem side of the hearing could produce no liberal organization which was victimized in the same ”left-out-to-dry,” manner as so many conservative ones.
They’ve had plenty of chances.
@Greg:
I knows that. And I understand in order for Obama to spend $10+million on just one trip, the IRS has to go after the rest of us to fund that trip. As to the rest of the government, basically what it is charged to do is deliver the mail and maintain safe borders. It does neither one very well.
Perhaps they are operating under the Timothy Geithner Rule. That’s really funny coming from you Greggie, complaining about anyone who doesn’t pay their taxes when Obama put Geithner in charge of the IRS when he was a tax cheat himself.
Funny how True The Vote is still waiting, after three years, to get their 501(c) exemption but the Trayvon Martin Foundation got it in about three months. Move to Cuba, Greggie; you’ll fit right in with Raul.
Now, since you think you are the sharpest tack in the Democrat left drawer, name the “progressive” groups that were DENIED exemption or even waited more than six months. We all want to know who they were since the Democrats sitting on that investigative committee could come up with none.
Joe the Plumber got a dose of “government record leak” shortly after he helped Owebama self prove what a socialist/marxist/communist wannabe Owebama is. It would be interesting to follow up on the present status of the Ohio state worker who was involved in that…..see what government job, state or federal, she might currently be doing after being “fired” for being caught improperly accessing records….just saying.
@Greg:
Yeah, we definitely need more Star Trek parodies and no one should be employed without the chance to have line dancing lessons. We should up the funding so more of these important functions can happen. And of course the $70 million bonuses while the rest of the country is just trying to get by is gravy.
And that $2.6 trillion in uncollected taxes? $1.4 trillion is owed by federal employees. If the IRS is so incompetent that they can’t collect from fellow federal employees, why give them more money?
*edit: the source I found says $2.8 billion in uncollected taxes and of that $1.4 billion is owed by federal employees.
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=86649&page=1
@Smorgasbord, #10:
I cited references for my figures. I don’t believe I need to cite a references for my opinion that Darrell Issa has cooked up a bogus scandal to attempt to damage the Obama administration. Actually, Darrell Issa is required to cite evidence supporting his slanderous claims that the IRS has selectively targeted conservative groups, and that the Obama administration is behind such a process. He has provided none supporting either claim, in spite of the fact that he has wasted millions of dollars of taxpayer money and a lot of peoples’ valuable time trying to do so.
Regarding Fair Tax, while I find the simplicity of the approach enormously appealing, I see nothing fair about someone like Bill Gates paying the same percentage as a struggling worker who’s earning $15 per hour. I might support some sort of hybrid scheme—something drastically streamlining regulations in a similar fashion, while retaining a progressive rate structure.
The god-awful complexity of the U.S. tax system isn’t the doing of the IRS. The IRS is only charged with collection and enforcement. The endless volumes of labyrinthine regulation are the doing of the very legislative body that complains about it. Every dodge, loophole, and every peculiar, narrowly defined benefit is the work of Congress and lobbyists, to the benefit of special interests and tax lawyers.
@retire05, #12:
There’s nothing in that post that directly addresses any questions that I’ve asked or points that I’ve made. You are perfectly free to continue barking at the moon and howling about Obama, however.
Your own republican appointee testified that there were both progressive and conservative groups that were targeted by the IRS screening process. He professed annoyance that this fact hadn’t been included in the initial reports made to him. A number of IRS employees have testified that there was no indication of politically motivated targeting, let alone White House involvement.
Darrell Issa made specific public accusations about the Obama administration. Darrell Issa is required to prove what he alleges, not the other way around. Darrell Issa cannot get away with just making things up.
Worth a read.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324448104578614220949743916.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop
@Aqua, #14:
All of the things mentioned—any example of unwise or inappropriate spending, whether advanced by republicans or democrats or both—is the fault of Congress, not of the IRS. The thankless task of the IRS is to collect the money required to pay for what Congress authorizes, and Congress is also responsible for creating the complexity of the collection mechanism.
Pointing fingers at the IRS is pretty much like guilty parties in a lynch mob pointing fingers at an unpopular local to remove any attention from themselves.
I found several sources that referred to the $2.6 trillion tax gap. My understanding is that this figure represents a cumulative total, while the smaller figure of $2.8 billion cited elsewhere represents an annual estimate. The $2.6 trillion doesn’t seem out of line, given figures the IRS provides in this release dated January 6, 2012. They calculated a $365 billion tax gap in 2006 annual collections, based on an 83.1% compliance rate and actual revenue collected. That rate of non-compliance would pile over a trillion dollars onto the cumulative total every 3 years.
Maybe I’ve missed something or misinterpreted something in those figures, but I’m still not seeing it.
Greggie, name the “progressive” organizations that were put on hold for their 501(c) exemptions for three years.
Do you really think if they existed that Democrats wouldn’t be shouting the names of those groups to the rooftops?
You truly fit the label “useful idiot.”
@retire05, #19:
I believe the IRS—including the self-identified republican and republican-appointed Inspector General J. Russell George—is bound by rules of privacy not to make public the names of specific affected organizations. You might have noticed how various lists presented for public examination were extensively redacted. It would be illegal to present a list of specific organizations.
@retire05: #12
Let’s not forget about Lois Lerner giving the Barack H. Obama Foundation tax-exempt status after one month. She even went a step further and granted RETROACTIVE tax-exempt status. Has that ever been done before?
Unlike Greg, I have a link to the story:
http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/14/irs-official-lerner-approved-exemption-for-obama-brothers-charity/
@Doc: #13
In politics, people like her get promoted.
@Greg: #15
You aren’t taking into account that the wealthier a person is, the more they spend. EVERYTHING new a person buys will be taxed (food, property they buy, the utilities they use, the fancy cars, the yacht, etc.). Since they buy higher priced ~~~~~, they will pay more in taxes. With the Fair Tax, Bill Gates will probably pay more taxes in a year than the average person’s annual income. Some billionaires don’t pay ANY taxes. Some businesses don’t pay any taxes, and even get a tax rebate.
The hardest thing to understand about the Fair Tax is that prices will stay the same after the Fax Tax is enacted.
@Greg: #16
Haven’t I heard this same thing said about another person many times? Evidently, your leader can make up things, and you go along with them.
The border is secure.
Your taxes won’t go up a dime.
The economy is doing fine.
Smorg, don’t forget:
If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.
Oh and for comrade greg’s #15, he has a long history of showing his unhinged hatred for “the rich”. His post isn yet another example.
He tries to cloak his mental illness in fairness and altruism, be he gives himself away.
Liberals are intolerant narcissists who deal primarily in hate.
@Hard Right: #26
I would like to see Greg win the lottery, then hear his comments after he finds out how much of it goes to taxes. We all know he would give most of the rest of it to the “…struggling worker who’s earning $15 per hour.” The Fair Tax would let him keep AlL of it.
When people launch personal attacks rather than addressing points that have been raised, the most likely reason is that they have no valid argument to counter those points.
As mentioned in #8, the republican House has just passed a bill to reduce the IRS’s already inadequate budget by another 24 percent, at a time when:
(1) the nation has a serious deficit problem;
(2) taxes have been illegally evaded to the tune of a cumulative total of $2.6 trillion; and
(3) it’s been demonstrated that every $1 spent on enforcement yields $6 in additional revenue.
@Hard Right #26 and @Smorgasbord #27:
Are you suggesting that going after tax cheats is the same thing as going after the rich? It certainly sounds that way.
Who exactly are republicans aiding and abetting, by going after the IRS, and by repeatedly cutting the IRS enforcement budget? The average honest American taxpayer?
How do deliberate republican efforts to impair tax collection square with their supposed passion for balancing the federal budget?
One of the crowning ironies of the entire situation is that the screening process the republicans claim to have been politically biased is at least partially a result of an inadequate IRS enforcement budget, resulting in inadequate resources to process a flood of applications from likely political organizations applying for tax exempt status contingent upon being non-political. In other words, they helped create the very situation that they’re now totally unhinged about.
The radicalized GOP has moved worse than useless to a whole new level.
@Greg: #28
It amazes me how you ASSUME so many things. I’m all for going after tax cheats. The rich avoid taxes by buying off the politicians to pass laws in favor of the rich. Both should be stopped.
You and me.
They aren’t trying to impair tax collection. They are trying to stop the hundreds of millions of dollars the IRS is spending on itself. Aren’t you upset that they spent as much money they did on the things that don’t have anything to with the operation of the IRS?
I agree. Is there anything negative about your party you don’t like?
I also agree with your earlier statement that congress is the problem with the taxes. WE THE PEOPLE are asking for it though, because we keep electing the same politicians, and they keep voting for pork barrel spending for each other. People fall for it, because the politician shows their voters how many hundreds of millions of dollars they brought to their state or district, but not telling the voters that they also voted hundreds of millions of dollars for each of the other 434 politicians.
CURT
THIS IS AN IRS TEAPARTY YOU GAVE US
THIS IS NUMBER 10
what a good read this one is, ON IRS
thank you CURT,