IRS Scandal

The Obama administration needs to just own up to the fact that the IRS not only targeted tea-party and conservative non-profit applicants, but also covered it up once discovered, as FactCheck has reported.

One of the clearest cases of providing false information came from the IRS commissioner at the time, Douglas Shulman, an appointee of President George W. Bush.

At a March 22, 2012 hearing of the Ways and Means oversight subcommittee, Shulman was asked about reports of conservative groups being targeted and he assured the subcommittee that “there is absolutely no targeting.”

Boustany, March 22, 2012: Can you give us assurances that the IRS is not targeting particular groups based on political leanings?
Shulman: Thanks for bringing this up. I think there has been a lot of press about this and a lot of moving information. I appreciate the opportunity to clarify. First, let me start by saying yes, I can give you assurances….
What has been happening has been the normal back and forth that happens with the IRS. None of the alleged taxpayers, and obviously, I cannot talk about individual taxpayers, and I am not involved in these, are in an examination process. They are in an application process, which they moved into voluntarily.

There is absolutely no targeting. This is the kind of back and forth that happens when people apply for 501(c)(4) status.

That’s obviously false.
On May 21, Shulman testified before the Senate Finance Committee, along with Miller and Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George. Shulman said that he learned “sometime in the spring of 2012″ that “there was a list that was being used” to identify political groups for further review and that the term “tea party” was on the list. But, he added, that he did not know “the scope and severity of the list,” and he “did not have a full set of facts” until the IG report was issued earlier this month.
Sen. Orrin Hatch said that Shulman should have “corrected the record and you should have done it long before today.”

 Various IRS officials lied about the existence of “inappropriate criteria” for years and once the story broke, then they lied again saying they didn't know anything about it.  The administration claim to transparency is getting pretty dinged up by this.  They need to have some heads roll, and probably have a special investigator investigate possible crimes in the cover-up.