A memo sent by the House committee said that a Washington Post
article after the Citizens United case inspired the IRS targeting. The
IRS felt empowered to become an enforcement agent for political
opponents.
"The IRS first identified
and elevated the Tea Party applications due to media attention
surrounding the Tea Party Media attention caused the IRS to treat
conservative-oriented tax-exempt applications differently," according to
a September 17 House Oversight memo entitled "Interim update on the
Committee's investigation of the Internal Revenue Service's
inappropriate treatment of tax-exempt applications."
The memo also states that politicians urged the IRS to take action:
"As
prominent politicians publicly urged the IRS to take action on
tax-exempt groups engaged in legal campaign intervention activities, the
IRS treated tea party applications differently," the staff report
concludes. "Applications filed by tea party groups were identified and
grouped due to media attention surrounding the existence of the tea
party in general."
From September 2010 through August 2012,
Democratic Senators including Max Baucus, Carl Levin, Charles Schumer
and Al Franken, as well as Rep. Peter Welch sent letters to the IRS
urging them to target Tea Party groups.
In one of the letters,
they wrote: 'We write to urge the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to
investigate whether any groups qualifying as social welfare
organizations under section 501(c)(4) of the federal tax code are
improperly engaged in political campaign activity," wrote Vermont
Democrat Welch to IRS Chief Dennis Shulman in March 2012."
Seven
senators, including Schumer and Franken, complained to Shulman in March
2012 that "lack of clarity in the IRS rules" is to blame, threatening
"legislation" to enact bright-line rules.
We urge the IRS to take steps immediately to prevent abuse of the tax code by political groups."
The
IRS is behaving "passively," complained Levin to Shulman in July 2012,
adding: "How long after a complaint to the IRS does a compliance review
begin?" and "What approximate time does it take to review the
complaint?"
And it looks like it may have gone at least as high as Geithner, and that groups were intentionally targeted before the election.
LINK
article after the Citizens United case inspired the IRS targeting. The
IRS felt empowered to become an enforcement agent for political
opponents.
"The IRS first identified
and elevated the Tea Party applications due to media attention
surrounding the Tea Party Media attention caused the IRS to treat
conservative-oriented tax-exempt applications differently," according to
a September 17 House Oversight memo entitled "Interim update on the
Committee's investigation of the Internal Revenue Service's
inappropriate treatment of tax-exempt applications."
The memo also states that politicians urged the IRS to take action:
"As
prominent politicians publicly urged the IRS to take action on
tax-exempt groups engaged in legal campaign intervention activities, the
IRS treated tea party applications differently," the staff report
concludes. "Applications filed by tea party groups were identified and
grouped due to media attention surrounding the existence of the tea
party in general."
From September 2010 through August 2012,
Democratic Senators including Max Baucus, Carl Levin, Charles Schumer
and Al Franken, as well as Rep. Peter Welch sent letters to the IRS
urging them to target Tea Party groups.
In one of the letters,
they wrote: 'We write to urge the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to
investigate whether any groups qualifying as social welfare
organizations under section 501(c)(4) of the federal tax code are
improperly engaged in political campaign activity," wrote Vermont
Democrat Welch to IRS Chief Dennis Shulman in March 2012."
Seven
senators, including Schumer and Franken, complained to Shulman in March
2012 that "lack of clarity in the IRS rules" is to blame, threatening
"legislation" to enact bright-line rules.
We urge the IRS to take steps immediately to prevent abuse of the tax code by political groups."
The
IRS is behaving "passively," complained Levin to Shulman in July 2012,
adding: "How long after a complaint to the IRS does a compliance review
begin?" and "What approximate time does it take to review the
complaint?"
And it looks like it may have gone at least as high as Geithner, and that groups were intentionally targeted before the election.
LINK
