In 2013, the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) revealed that it has selected political groups applying for tax-exempt status for intensive examination under their name or political theme. This led to widespread criticism from the agency and sparked several investigations, including a criminal investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) ordered by US Attorney General Eric Holder.
Initial reports describe the selection almost exclusively from conservative groups with terms such as "Tea Party" in their name. According to Republican lawmakers, liberal-leaning groups and the Occupy movement have also sparked additional checks, but to a lesser extent than conservatives. The majority of Republicans in the House Monitoring Committee issued a report, which concluded that although some liberal groups were selected for additional reviews, the supervision received by these groups was not the same as the targeting when compared to the larger controls received by conservative groups. The report was criticized by the committee's minority Democrats, who said the report ignores evidence that the IRS uses keywords to identify liberal and conservative groups.
In January 2014, James Comey, who at the time was director of the FBI, told Fox News that his investigation found no evidence so far guaranteed the filing of federal criminal charges in connection with the controversy, as it found no evidence of "enemy hunting", and that the investigation continued. On October 23, 2015, the Justice Department stated that no criminal charges would be filed. On September 8, 2017, Trump's Justice Department refused to reopen a criminal investigation into Lois Lerner, the central figure in the controversy.
At the end of September 2017, a full report by the Treasury's inspector general found that from 2004 to 2013, the IRS used conservative and liberal keywords to select targets for further examination, charging claims that the issue has been an Obama-era partisan scandal.
In October 2017, the Trump Administration agreed to settle the lawsuit filed on behalf of over 400 conservative nonprofit groups claiming that they had been discriminated against by the Internal Revenue Service. The settlement included an apology from the IRS and a monetary section that the attorney characterized for the plaintiff as "very substantial."
Video IRS targeting controversy
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Tax exemption and donor anonymity
The United States federal tax law, in particular Section 501 (c) (4) of the Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C.Ã,§§§ 501 (c)), excludes certain types of non-profit organizations from having to pay federal income taxes. The legal language of IRC 501 (c) (4) generally requires the civil organization described in that section to be "operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare". The treasury regulation of interpreting this legal language implements a more relaxed standard, that is, that the organization "operated primarily for the purpose of bringing about societal improvement and social improvement". Consequently, the IRS traditionally allows organizations described in IRC 501 (c) (4) to engage in lobbying and political campaigning activities if they are not the organization's primary activity.
The Rules of Internal Revenue Service also protect groups organized under Section 501 (c) (4) as a nonprofit organization dedicated to social welfare because it must disclose the names of their donors or the amount of funds donated by each donor. This protection has been around since the 1958 United States Supreme Court decision at NAACP v. Alabama , when the Court stated that the disclosure of names could make private donors vulnerable to retaliation.
Nonprofit organizations dedicated to social welfare are not required to apply for IRS certification in order to operate under Article 501 (c) (4) tax exemption rules. However, being certified by the IRS can help organizations attract more donations and provide protection against further surveillance.
In 2013, an example of a 501 (c) (4) group including Organizing for Action, organized to promote President Obama's legislative priorities, and conservative advocacy advocacy organization Crossroads GPS, was founded partially by Karl Rove.
Citizens United in power & amp; Request of Congress for 501 (c) investigations
On January 21, 2010, the US Supreme Court ruled United States citizens v. The Federal Electoral Commission , which nullifies many of the previous restrictions on political campaign spending and allows almost unlimited and often anonymous expenditures by companies and other groups to influence elections. Some Tea Party leaders began to form political action committees as branches of their 501 (c) -tax-exempt organization. By the end of September 2010, tax-free non-profit groups spent more than $ 100 million on medium-term elections, more than doubling spending from the same point in the four-year election cycle.
Public advocacy groups such as Public Citizen and Democracy 21 complained that the IRS and Federal Election Commission failed to provide adequate oversight to 501 (c) non-profit organizations that pour money into political campaigns. Like the The New York Times reported at the time:
Almost all the biggest players among third-party groups, in terms of buying television time in House and Senate since August, have 501 (c) organizations, and their purchases are well-liked Republicans.
They include the 501 (c) (4) "social welfare" organization, such as Crossroads, which has become a major spender on the Senate race, and America for Prosperity, another pro-Republican group that has been a leader on the side of the House; 501 (c) (5) trade unions, which have supported the Democrats; and 501 (c) (6) trade associations, such as the United States Chamber of Commerce, which has spent much money to support the Republic.
Shortly thereafter, Senator Max Baucus, chairman of the Democrats of the Senate Finance Committee, referred to The New York Times and other media reports, asking the IRS to investigate to ensure that the nonprofit organizations involved in political activity were meeting with rules of the IRS and does not abuse their tax-exempt status. Republican senators on the financial committee Orrin Hatch and John Kyl responded to Baucus' request by writing to the IRS that they feared such an inquiry would violate the rights of the First Amendment, and they asked the Inspector General of the Department of Finance to review the investigation to ensure its impartiality.
The Senate and House of Representatives Democrats in early 2012 continue to pressure the IRS to investigate the violation of 501 tax-free status (c) (4) by organizations involved in political activity. In a February 2012 letter to the then IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman, several Democratic senators led by Senator Chuck Schumer wrote, "We urge you to protect the legitimate part of 501 (c) (4) entities by preventing inappropriate organizations that focus on federal election activities from abusing the tax code. "Senators also urged the IRS to issue new rules to prevent this type of abuse. In a follow-up letter sent in March 2012, the senators asked the IRS to clearly define the amount of political activity allowed for the "social welfare" group under 501 (c) (4) rules, to request the groups to document it. Their IRS puts the right percentage of their activities dedicated to "social welfare", and asks the group to tell their donors what percentage of donations can be claimed for tax deductions. Senators promise to introduce legislation to achieve this goal if the IRS does not do it on its own by immediately issuing new administrative rules. None of these letters call for group targeting on the basis of political ideology.
Between 2010 and 2012, the number of applications IRS received each year, which requested 501 (c) (4) certification, doubled. During this period, budget cuts and personnel cuts reduce the IRS's ability to perform its core tasks adequately. When the Obama administration requested in 2011 that Congress raise the $ 1 billion $ 1 billion IRS budget to allow agents to employ an additional 5,100 agents, Congress instead reduced the IRS budget to $ 11.8 billion, and the IRS offered purchases to 5,400 of 95,000 employees. US National Taxpayer Advocate, Nina E. Olson, told The New York Times in January 2012, "The main challenge facing the IRS is that its workload has increased significantly in recent years, while its funding is being cut.... This causes the IRS to take shortcuts that undermine fundamental taxpayers' rights and harm taxpayers - and at the same time reduce the IRS's ability to realize its core mission of increasing revenue. "
Maps IRS targeting controversy
Controversial IRS behavior
Intensive controversial observation of political groups
Starting in March 2010, the IRS closely scrutinizes certain organizations that apply tax-exempt status under sections 501 (c) (3) and 501 (c) (4) of the Internal Revenue Code by focusing on groups with specific words in their names. In May 2010, several employees of the "Determination Unit" of the IRS office in Cincinnati, assigned to review apps relating to tax-exempt status, began developing a spreadsheet known as the "Be Seen" ("BOLO") list.
The list, first distributed in August 2010, suggests an intensive examination of applicants with names related to a number of political causes, including names related to the Tea Party movement and other conservative causes. Finally, IRS employees in Ohio, California, and Washington, D.C. apply closer scrutiny to apps from organizations that:
- referenced words such as "Tea Party", "Patriot", or "Project 9/12", "progressive," "occupy", "Israel", "open source software", "marijuana medical "and" Advocacy of occupied territories "in the case files;
- describes an in-app problem that includes government spending, government debt, or taxes;
- engage in advocacy or lobbying to "make America a better place to live";
- has a statement in the case file that criticizes how the country is run;
- advocates education on the Constitution and Bill of Rights;
- is focused on challenging the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act - known by many as Obamacare;
- questioning the integrity of federal elections.
For two years between April 2010 and April 2012, the IRS essentially withholds the processing of applications for the tax-exempt status of 501 (c) (4) received from organizations with "Tea Party", "patriots" or "9/12" in their name. Although no application of this organization was declined during this period, only 4 were approved. During the same general period, agencies approve applications from several dozen liberal-inclined organizations whose names include terms such as "progressive", "progressive", "liberal", or "equality." However, the IRS also selects some progressive organizations or Democrats who are inclined towards increased oversight. The affiliate of the liberal group, Emerge America, requested that the tax-exempt status be rejected, leading to a larger (and ultimately revocable) tax-exempt review of the Emerge America organization. The Conservative Review states that the November 2010 version of the IRS BOLO list shows that liberal and conservative groups are in fact treated differently because liberal groups may be approved for tax-free status by line agents, party groups can not.
Ryan Chittum of the Columbia Journalism Review reported in 2011 that some non-profit news organizations see their apps pending for years after being tagged for additional review. In 2013, Chittum linked the investigation to the investigation, reporting that the non-profit news organization and the Tea Party group were placed in the same "Emerging Issues" category by IRS reviewers, which is a marked category for additional questions. He stated that "Instead of the Nixonia conspiracy that George Will and The Wall Street Journal editorial pages are so darkly warned - with zero evidence - you have a routine bureaucratic procedure intended to incorporate potential potential problem applicants together for further review."
Media Trackers, a conservative organization, applied to the IRS for the recognition of tax-exempt status, and received no response after waiting 16 months. When the company founder Drew Ryun filed a permanent exempt status for an existing tax-exempt organization with what he said as a "liberal-sounding name" ("Greenhouse Solutions"), the request was approved within three weeks. Ryun has stated that he believes that Greenhouse Solutions benefits from his name (although quick approval may also be due to the fact that Greenhouse Solutions is already operating as a nonprofit and already in the archives with the IRS.)
Investigations by The New York Times reported that some organizations were selected for review by the IRS involved in activities that could be interpreted as political. The Liberty Ohio coalition, whose application has been delayed for over two years, emailed members about Mitt Romney's presidential campaign and distributed Romney's "door hangers" as he wandered the neighborhood. Former IRS officials and tax experts say that this kind of behavior will provide "legit grounds" for additional checks. Ohio State University legal scholar Donald Tobin said: "Although some IRS questions may have been too much, you can look at some of these groups and understand why these questions are being asked."
Sample questions from the IRS
Some flagged organizations were asked to provide further documentation in the request that Rep. Bill Flores is called "beyond the limit and impossible to obey". The requested documentation varies among different groups but, in some cases, includes copies of "any contract" or "training materials" that the group may exchange with the Koch Foundation. In one instance, the IRS requested "a summary or a copy of all material authorized at the meeting." Some letters request web pages "copies of groups", blog posts and social media posts. "Organizations are told that if they do not provide the information they seek, they will not be certified as tax-exempt.
Other questions asked from some unknown applicants are:
Provide the following information for the income you received and accumulated over the years from the beginning to the present. Also, provide the same information for the revenue you expect to receive and accrue for 2012, 2013, and 2014.
A. Donations, contributions, and grant revenues for each year, which include the following information:
If you do not receive or do not expect to receive donations, contributions, and grant revenues, please confirm by answering "Nothing received" and/or "Nothing Expected".
- Names of donors, contributors, and grantor. If a donor, contributor, or giver has already run or will run for public office, office identification. If not, please confirm by answering this question "No".
- The amount of each donation, contribution, and grant and date you receive.
- How do you use these donations, contributions, and grants? Provide details.
Other unidentified applicants are requested to "Please provide a copy of all your current web pages, including your Blog post. Please provide copies of all newsletters, bulletins, leaflets, newsletters, or other media or literature that you have distributed to your members or someone else.. Please provide a copy of published stories and articles about you. "
Coalition for the Life of Iowa, pro-life group, asked to "Please explain how all your activities, including prayer meetings held outside Planned Parenthood are considered educational as defined below 501 (c) (3) The organization is released under 501 (c ) (3) be able to present opinions with scientific or medical facts Please describe in detail the activities at this prayer meeting and also give the percentage of time your group uses for prayer groups as opposed to other activities of the organization. "When asked the Commander of the IRS Interim Officer , Steven T. Miller, on May 17, 2013, Congressman Aaron Schock (R-IL), referring to a report by conservative and nonprofit law firm Thomas More Society, misquoted one of the questions posed by the coalition as "please fill in the details from your organization's prayer members. " Schock goes on to ask, "Is that an inappropriate question for the applicant 501 (c) (3)? A person's prayer content?" Miller replied, "It hurts me to say I can not talk to that one." After further questioning by Schock, Miller stated that it would "surprise him" if the question was asked. Schock's characterization of the question was included in the news report and repeated by conservative commentators.
Disclosure of public tax information
In November 2013, the ProPublica investigative reporting organization requested information from the IRS on 67 nonprofit groups that spend money for the 2012 elections, including GPS Crossroads Karl Rove. The IRS Office in Cincinnati responded with documents from 31 groups. Of the 31 groups, nine are secret apps of conservative groups that have not been approved and therefore should not be disclosed to the public. ProPublica made six of these applications public, "after editing their financial information, assuming that they are newsworthy." ProPublica has made a recording request to an office that is only looking for a complete app, which is public information.
Implementation of gift tax
In 2011, an audit letter was sent to five donors to the conservative 501 (c) (4) now dead group, Freedom's Watch, involved in the 2008 election cycle. The purpose of this audit was to assess whether or not the tax prize to be paid on donor donations to Freedom's Watch. The Congressional Research Service said the audit was legally groundless, because the tax law waived only 501 (c) (3) and 527 groups of gift taxes. However, Ari Fleischer, a member of the council of the group, alleged that the group was being ostracized. According to tax experts, the IRS has not enforced that law, but tax lawyers have advised their clients that they may owe taxes, leading to a situation where some get paid and some do not. The audit appeared to show a new emphasis on law enforcement, but the Republican political opposition in Congress caused the IRS to drop the audit and publicly announced that it would not levy a gift tax on contributions to 501 (c) (4) groups. Inspector General J. Russell George's report recommends that the IRS make clearer rules and conduct more training for employees on 501 (c) (4) issues, including prize tax exemptions.
Disposal of public information
Audit report
In early May 2013, the Inspector General of the Ministry of Finance for Tax Administration released an audit report confirming that the IRS used inappropriate criteria to identify potential political cases, including organizations with Tea Party in their name.
On May 10, prior to the public release of the audit findings, IRS Organization Division Director Lois Lerner responded to what was later revealed to be a planted question by stating that the IRS is "apologizing" for what it calls "totally inappropriate" actions. (Leader Lerner, then acting as IRS Commissioner Steven Miller, later testified to Congress that he had discussed with Lerner how he made statements and apologies using questions imprinted at the American Bar Association meeting rather than during the appearance of two days prior before House Ways & amp; Means Committee in Congress.) He asserted that extra surveillance had not been centrally planned and had been carried out by the lower-level "front man" at the Cincinnati office. Media reports soon revealed that IRS officials in two other regional offices had also been involved in researching conservative groups and that the elected applicants said they had been told their app was being overseen by a task force in Washington, DC The Inspector General of Finance for the Tax Administration report indicated that Lerner himself has been informed of the affair at the meeting he attended on 29 June 2011.
On May 12, Republican and Democratic lawmakers called for a full investigation of the Internal Revenue Service, while White House Press Secretary Jay Carney called the alleged IRS action "inappropriate". On May 13, The Washington Post reported that Marcus Owens, head of the IRS department who examined tax-free groups in 1990-1999, said that the IRS routinely grouped similar groups looking for welfare organization status social.. At a May 13 press conference, President Obama called the allegations "outrageous" if true, and said that anyone who was held responsible for the act should be held accountable.
On May 14, the Inspector General's audit report was made public. President Obama released a statement saying, "The IRS must apply the law in a fair and impartial manner, and its employees must act with complete integrity.This report shows that some of its employees failed the test.I have directed Lew's Secretary to hold those responsible for these failures are responsible, and to ensure that each Inspector General's recommendations are implemented quickly, so that such behavior never happens again.But regardless of how this behavior is allowed to happen, the point is, it is wrong. "Attorney General Eric Holder announced that he has ordered the Department of Justice to begin an investigation into whether the activity is a criminal behavior.
Findings
The Inspector General of Finance for the Tax Administration found that inappropriate criteria have been used by IRS personnel to select certain applications for tax exemption status for further review and that inappropriate procedures are applied to the organization based on their name or policy position. According to the audit, beginning in early 2010, frontline IRS agents violate IRS policies by not handling tax issues impartially that will increase public confidence:
IRS uses inappropriate criteria identified for review of Tea Party and other organizations that apply tax-exempt status under their name or policy position in exchange for an indication of potential political campaign interventions. Ineffective management: 1) allows unsuitable criteria to be developed and persist for more than 18 months, 2) leads to substantial delays in processing certain applications, and 3) permits unnecessary information requests for publication. Although the processing of multiple applications with significant potential political campaign intervention begins immediately after acceptance, no work has been completed on the majority of these applications for 13 months.... For 296 total political campaign intervention applications [reviewed in audit] as 17 December 2012, 108 has been approved, 28 withdrawn by the applicant, none denied, and 160 opened from 206 to 1,138 calendar days (some over three years and crossing two electoral cycles).... Many organizations receive requests for additional information from the IRS that includes unnecessary and burdensome questions (eg list of donors in the past and future).
The Inspector General concluded, "although the IRS has taken some action, it needs to be done more so that the public has reasonable assurances that the application is processed without unreasonable delays in a fair and impartial manner in the future."
The Washington Post describes the audit report because it has found that some IRS employees "do not know about tax laws, oppose their supervisors and blind them to inappropriate appearances".
Criticism of the inspector general
J. Russell George, Inspector General of the Treasury who has warned lawmakers against inappropriate behavior of the IRS, was criticized by Republican lawmakers, who said that since the general inspector was asked to notify Congress through the agency's head when errors were discovered - and in serious cases should do it in 7 days - he should have told Congress in 2012, before the election that year. Inspector General George, appointed by President George W. Bush, responded by saying that the audit was incomplete, and in his view, "to ensure justice and to ensure that we are accurate with the information we convey to Congress we will not report information until the IRS has a chance to see it to ensure that we do not misrepresent facts. "
On June 24, 2013, new IRS commissioner Danny Werfel revealed that an internal investigation has found that inappropriate screening is wider and more durable than previously known. The report found that words like "Israel", "progressive" and "Occupy" were also used as red flags for greater scrutiny, and that filters still used the list until May 2013. A spokesman for the Inspector General's office in IRS audit allegations say they have been asked by House Supervisory Chair Darrell Issa (R-CA) "to narrowly focus on Tea Party organizations".
On June 27, 2013, responding to the letters from Rep. Sander Levin, a ranking member of the Ways and Means Committee, Insp. Gen. J. Russell George's office released a letter to Levin regarding the monitoring of groups with "progressives" in their names. Contrary to previous claims from George's office, the letter acknowledges that he knows that the word "progressive" has appeared in the IRS filtration document. However, he says that the "Progressive" criterion is part of the "Be On the Look Out" (BOLO) spreadsheet labeled "Historical", and, unlike other BOLO entries, does not say how to refer to marked cases. Although he has many sources that confirm the use of the "Tea Party" and the related criteria described in the report, including employee interviews and e-mail, he found no indication in any of the other materials that "Progressive" is a term used to refer cases for oversight of political campaign intervention. The letter further states that of the 20 groups applying for tax-exempt status whose name contains "progress" or "progressive", 6 has been selected for further examination compared to all 292 groups applying for tax-exempt status whose name contains " tea party "," patriot ", or" 9/12 ".
Second Report Inspector General
At the end of September 2017, a full report by the Treasury's inspector general found that from 2004 to 2013, the IRS used conservative and liberal keywords to select targets for further examination, charging claims that the issue has been an Obama-era partisan scandal. The 115-page report confirms findings from previous 2013 reports that some conservative organizations have been unfairly targeted, but have also found that patterns of violations have been in place since 2004 and are not partisan.
In reaction, Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, ranked Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, stated "After years of baseless claims and false allegations it is my hope that Republicans will finally end this witch's hunt and admit that their attacks against the IRS are nothing else is the political interest of special interests at the expense of American taxpayers. "In contrast, the Republican Chairman of House Ways and Means Committee, Kevin Brady of Texas, responded by saying that" this report reinforces what government inspectors and congressional investigators have repeatedly: Bureaucrats on the IRS, like Lois Lerner, arbitrarily and arbitrarily set tax codes and taxpayers targeted by political ideology. "Regardless of reaction, the release of the report ended the government's latest official investigation into the practice of the IRS.
Reaction
Initial reaction
Senator Montana, Max Baucus, said that the accusation was "an abusive abuse of power", and West Virginia senator Joe Manchin called the "no Americans" IRS action.
From May 13 to 15, several senators and congressional representatives called on the IRS Temporary Commissioner, Steven T. Miller, to resign or be fired. Chairman of the House of Representatives John Boehner said, "My question is not about who will resign, my question is who will be jailed for this scandal?... There are laws that apply to prevent this type of abuse." Someone makes a decision aware to harass and hold this request for tax-exempt status. I think we need to know who they are and whether they violate the law. Obviously someone broke the law. "Then on that day on May 15, 2013, President Obama announced that his Minister of Finance had requested and accepted the resignation of Commissioner Miller's Lawyers.
MPs also called for the resignation of Lois Lerner, who runs the IRS section on tax-exempt organizations, as did Danny Werfel, after he was appointed Commissioner of the IRS following Miller's resignation. When Lerner refused to resign, he was placed on administrative leave. Lerner retires effective September 23, 2013.
Michael Macleod-Ball, chief of staff at the ACLU's Washington Legislative Office, said, "Even the emergence of partisan political play with the tax code is a troublesome constitutional issue." With the recent push to give the federal agency a vast new power to mandate disclosure of donors to groups advocacy on the left and the right, there should be a clear check to prevent this from happening again. "
US Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) said, "We should not just fire the IRS head, which has happened, but we have to go down the line and find everyone who has something to do with it and make sure that they are removed from the IRS and word out that this unacceptable. "There were protests by Tea Party members in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and across the country protesting selective targeting by the conservative IRS seeking tax-exempt status.
US Senator John Cornyn of Texas released a video titled "A Culture of Intimidation" and a website called "IRS targeting Texas" with some stories from conservatives in Texas and elsewhere who have received intrusive questions from the IRS.
The press reaction to the IRS's actions was intense.
- Rachel Maddow from MSNBC said: "There is a sense of fear for all of us, by all of us, that the kind of power the IRS has to be abused," he continued, that the study was done by the Tea Party group. "unfair."
- The Central Comedy Jon Stewart stated that the controversy has taken "the last arrow in your pro-government to shake," he further said that this cast doubt on President Obama's "managerial competence" and has proved true "conspiracy theorists," shifting the burden of proof to a federal authority. ABC News' Terry Moran writes that this is: "The real abuse of power by Nixonia by the Obama administration."
- Tom Brokaw NBC states: "It's time to act."
- NBC White House Correspondent Chuck Todd: "It seems they have no sense of urgency about it, real anger," and beyond; "It's outrageous no matter what political party you are." MSNBC Joe Scarborough said: "It's tyranny," and talks about the "unspeakable" infraction by the IRS. "This time it's real."
A poll released by Quinnipiac University on May 30 revealed that 76% of registered voters - including 63% of the Democratic Party - supported the appointment of special prosecutors to independently investigate allegations of error. Pollster Peter A. Brown says there is "extraordinary bipartisan support" for such an investigation.
A NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll conducted May 30 through June 2, 2013, found that 55% of respondents believe that the controversy raises questions about the honesty and integrity of the Obama administration. The poll found 33% of respondents blamed Obama directly for the actions that underlie the controversy. The poll also found public confidence in the IRS low, with only 10% of respondents expressing confidence in the agency.
Next reaction
While Republican conservatives and politicians in general continue to view the behavior of the IRS as an indication of politically motivated targeting, many liberal commentators and Democratic politicians quickly believe that even if the behavior is inappropriate, it is not politically motivated. As a result, the liberal reaction to the controversy has shifted away from initial criticism and calls for an investigation into the description of the controversy as "The Lost IRS Scandal", and the suggestion that later revelation is a "nail in the controversial coffin" and the "Fizzl [ing]" controversy ". On June 9, 2013, less than a month after the initial revelation, House Oversight Committee member Elijah Cummings (D-MD) stated: "Based on everything I see, this case is solved, and if it were me, I would wrap up the case and continued. "After an investigation by the Senate Finance Committee, Ron Wyden's ranking member stated:" You will not find any partisan political scandals or life proof in Pluto. "
Resignation
- Steven T. Miller, Acting Commissioner of Internal Revenue and Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement resigns on May 15, 2013
- Joseph H. Grant, commissioner of the Tax Exemption Division and Government Entity, retired on June 3, 2013
- Lois Lerner, Internal Revenue Service Official at the center of the controversy, retired effective September 23, 2013.
Legal charges
Catherine Engelbrecht, founder of the conservative True the Vote, filed a lawsuit claiming that her company's tax-free status was unjustly postponed for three years, alleging that she and her family's small manufacturing business were selected for revenge investigations by the IRS, OSHA, ATF and FBI. In 2013, Chris Van Hollen filed a lawsuit against the IRS to stop the tradition of allowing groups involved in politics to be registered under 501 (c) (4).
In October 2013, the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) filed a federal suit, alleging that the IRS intentionally divulged a 2008 tax return, including a list of donors, in violation of federal law. The lawsuit arose from the disclosure of the unemployment tax refund information in March 2012, including the 2008 IRS Form 990, Schedule B, containing donor data, to Human Rights Campaigns, LGBT rights advocacy groups, and to the media. (Disclosure reveals that Romney has given $ 10,000 to NOM, an anti-gay marriage group). According to US federal law, "The IRS is required to provide tax information to the public 501 (c) (4) on request - but the donor's personal identification information must be edited by the agency."
In a June 2014 ruling, Judge James Cacheris of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia dismissed most of the NOM claims. While the IRS acknowledges that they have made copies of the NOM's unauthorized tax information publicly available, NOM provides "no evidence that the information was intentionally disclosed or a result of major negligence." As of June 2014, the IRS reached a settlement for the remaining NOM claims of improper disclosure of tax information, in which the IRS agreed to pay $ 50,000 to NOM. On October 16, 2014 US Circuit Court Judge James Cacheris rejected claims for reimbursement of legal fees to the National Organization for Marriage due to their lawsuit against the IRS. NOM has claimed that they spent more than $ 690,000 in legal fees. Many went to the NOM chairman, John Eastman. NOM never issued a statement about a clear conflict of interest. Net of $ 50,000 settlement, NOM lost $ 640,000.
In October 2017, the Trump Justice Department completed two lawsuits filed by conservative groups that said they were subjected to controversy. One of these claims was filed on behalf of 428 groups, and the other was filed on behalf of 41 groups. The settlement includes paying $ 3.5 million for these groups, apologies, and error recognition from the IRS.
Investigation
congressional investigation
At least since mid-2011, higher IRS officials know that conservative groups are being studied.
Selected groups complained to various members of Congress. In response, the congressional committee asked IRS Commissioner Douglas H. Shulman about the charges in 2012. Shulman told the committee that the agency did not target conservative groups. After Shulman denied that the IRS unfairly targeted the conservative group, the congressional committee ended the 2012 phase of the investigation. Shulman resigned from office at the end of 2012, before the controversy unfolded.
Following the Inspector General's report, the Government's Supervisory and Reform Commission began investigating the IRS. In addition, the House Committee on Ways and Means expands the ongoing 2011 investigation into possible IRS political targeting to include BOLO ("alert") targeting of alleged keywords.
On May 15, 2013, the House Supervisory Committee requested that Holly Paz, John Shafer, Gary Muther, Liz Hofacre and Joseph Herraz be interviewed from May 20, 2013.
On 22 May 2013, in his opening statement to the Supervisory Committee, Lois Lerner stated: "I have not violated any laws, I do not violate IRS rules or regulations and I do not provide false information to these or other congresses, the committee." Lerner then requested the Fifth Amendment of his right to self-accusation and refused to testify.
Chairman of the Steering Committee Darrell Issa later confirmed that Lerner had waived his Fifth Amendment right by giving a partial testimony and that he intended to call him back to the congrega- tion. Congressman Trey Gowdy agrees with Issa. Gowdy states: "He [Lois Lerner] has just released the Fifth Amendment.You can not tell your side of the story and then it is not the target of cross examination - it's not how it works.He gives up his right to the Fifth Amendment Right by issuing an opening statement. stand here and answer our questions. "Brawijaya University law professor James Duane told the New York magazine that Gowdy's statement was" very imaginative "but" wrong "because someone accidentally called before a jury or a body the legislature may selectively invoke the right to Silence. Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz takes a different view, arguing: "You can not just make a statement about a subject and then ask the Fifth in response to a question about the same subject," and assert, "[You] open the door to the area of ​​investigation, You have released your Fifth Amendment. "
On May 22, 2013, former IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman testified that he often visited the White House during 2010-2011, but he denies having discussed conservative targeting with anyone in the White House. His testimony was criticized by some columnists. Some media and lawmakers affirm that Shulman has visited the White House up to 157 times; However, The Atlantic reports that it represents the number of times Shulman was released by the Secret Service to visit the White House or the Executive Office Building of Eisenhower, not necessarily how many times Shulman actually arrived; visitor logs can confirm only 11 visits between 2009 and 2012, although the numbers may be higher because the login system does not capture every visitor, especially on major events. Shulman is regularly scheduled for events such as a bi-weekly health care vice meeting that will have a list of people who are ready to attend.
On June 9, 2013, Cummings released part of an interview transcript in which an anonymous IRS manager who described himself as a "conservative Republic" told Congressional investigators that he had initiated selected reviews without involvement from the White House and that extra scrutiny was not politically motivated. In an appearance on CNN's State of the Union, Cummings said, "Based on everything I've seen, this case is solved. And if it is me, I will wrap this case up and move on. "Chairman of the Issa Supervisory Committee responded in a statement," The Cummings Member Ratings testimonials disclosed today do not provide anything enlightening or contrary to other witness reports. The only thing that the Member Member of Cummings gave in his comment today is that if it were up to him, the investigation would be closed. "
On May 7, 2014, near voting parties (with six Democrats joining all Republicans) the House voted to detain Lerner in contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with Congressional investigations. Republicans rejected Lerner's appeal against the Fifth Amendment as ineffective, with Issa stating: "You can not use public hearings to inform the public and press your side of the story and then use Fifth." Democrats characterized the humiliation as a "witch hunt" directed at mid-term elections in 2014.
On June 13, 2014, the IRS informed Republican congressional investigators that they had lost Lerner's email from January 2009 to April 2011 due to a mid-2011 computer crash. The emails were under a court order as part of a congressional inquiry. On June 19, the IRS said that the damaged hard drive containing Lerner's lost emails had been discarded more than two years earlier. Some commentators have raised the legal issue of how the IRS handles this federal record. A spokesman for the National Archives and Records Administration said in an email communication that: "The Office of the Chief Officer of Notes to the US Government has contacted the IRS to investigate a particular situation.
On July 9, 2014, Republicans released an April 13, 2013 email from Lerner where he warned his colleagues to "be careful about what we said in the email," citing a congressional question. The email did not say which congressional questions Lerner was concerned about and did not mention the upcoming TIGTA report. Republicans say that this email indicates that Lerner is trying to hide evidence from investigators.
On September 5, 2014, the IRS said it lost an additional five email workers under congressional investigations, blaming computer crashes. The five workers included two people based in Cincinnati who worked on Tea Party cases; according to IRS crashes all investigations before the congress and has occurred between September 2009 and February 2014.
On September 5, 2014, the Senate Subcommittee Keep Investigation released a report on the controversy. The majority report of the subcommittee, written by the chairman of the subcommittee Senator Carl Levin and submitted to the Democrat subcommittee, concurred with TIGTA's findings that inappropriate screening criteria were used but concluded that there were no deliberate mistakes or political bias in the use of criteria. The majority blame TIGTA for ignoring reports that liberal groups were also selected for additional checks and that earlier TIGTA investigations found no indication of political bias on the IRS. The Republican minority of the subcommittee submitted a disagreement report written by Senator John McCain's member who widely validates the TIGTA report and accused the majority of minimizing bias against the conservative group, noting that most of the targeted groups for supplementary supervision were conservative.
On November 22, 2014, a spokesman for the Supervisory House of Representatives and the Republican Reform Committee of the Republican Government declared that TIGTA investigators told Congress that they had recovered up to 30,000 emails to and from Lois Lerner.
On December 23, 2014, Chairman Issa's staff released a new report finding that "the IRS's inability to safeguard politics from objective decisions on tax code interpretation undermines its main function: an apolitical tax collector that Americans can reliably treat them fairly." The report was criticized by Cummings as "cherry-picked" to support political narrative. The report does not link IRS behavior in coordination with the White House, although Republicans stress that an investigation is under way and will continue at the next Congress.
In January 2015, the United States Senate requested that the White House generate all communications it has with the IRS since 2010.
The Senate Finance Committee's final report
On 5 August 2015, the Senate Finance Committee released the Senate Report 114-119, 501 Internal Revenue Processing Services (c) (3) and 501 (c) (4) Applications for the Status of Tax Exclusions Submitted by " The report concludes that management at the IRS has been "naughty in its responsibility to provide effective control , guidance and direction for processing applications for tax-free status filed by Tea Party and other political advocacy organizations "and poor planning by agents resulted in a" predictable failure "in dealing with the delinquency.The committee found that" IRS managers lost the opportunity to shaped the IRS's response to the entry of political advocacy applications by simply failing to read reports that informed them of the sake there are applications. "
While the report contains many bipartisan findings, members of the Republican and Democratic committees offer separate, sharply different reports on the main reasons for the failure of the IRS. The Republican report (titled "Supplementary Views of Senator Hatch Compiled by Republic Staff") states that the IRS has targeted the Tea Party group for "politically motivated reasons," while the Democrats report (titled "Supplementary Views of Senator Wyden Prepared by Democratic Staff") blamed the agency's failure on "dirty mismanagement" that treats the group in a bad way regardless of ideology.
FBI investigation
In January 2014, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced that they found no evidence to guarantee the filing of federal criminal charges in connection with infidelity. The FBI stated that they found no evidence of "alleged" enemy hunts, but that the investigation revealed that the IRS was a mismanaged mismanagement rule not fully understood by IRS personnel. However, officials indicate that the investigation is continuing.
DOJ investigation
In October 2015, the Justice Department informed Congress that there would be no charges against former IRS officials Lois Lerner or against anyone on the IRS. Investigations found no evidence of illegal activity or partisan targeting of political groups and found that no IRS officials were trying to block justice. The DOJ investigation did find evidence of Lerner's mismanagement and bad judgment in using his IRS account for private messages but said "... bad management is not a crime." In September 2017, the DOJ rejected a request from the US House Committee on Ways and Ways to reopen the investigation into Lerner's IRS activities.
Reshuffle resolution
Four days after the Justice Department closed its investigation, 19 members of the Supervisory Board and Government Reform Committee led by Committee Chair, Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), filed a resolution to indict IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. Those who sponsored the impeachment resolution to remove Koskinen from the office accused him of failing to prevent the destruction of evidence in allowing the removal of a backup tape containing thousands of e-mails written by Lois Lerner, and making a fake statement under oath to Congress. In a statement issued by the Committee, Chaffetz said Koskinen "failed to comply with congressional court orders, documents destroyed on his watch, and the public was consistently misled." Impeachment is an appropriate tool to restore public confidence in the IRS and to protect institutional interests Congress. "
On October 27, 2015, the IRS stated that the agency had no direct comment on the impeachment resolution. Representative Cummings said in a statement: "This silly resolution will show nothing but the Republican obsession with diving into the investigative rabbit hole that wasted tens of millions of dollars in taxpayers while not at all positively impacting on a single American.Calling this resolution 'action 'or' joke 'will insult stunts and jokes. "
Deleted evidence
Responding to a lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch, Thomas Kane, Deputy Assistant Chief Advisor to the IRS, wrote in a sworn statement that Blackberry Lerner "deleted or deleted the net of any sensitive or proprietary information and removed as scrap for disposal in June 2012." Today, James S. Robbins writes, "For a scandal that is often ridiculed as 'fake', it is amazing how often the real evidence disappears.The act disappears so often, it makes sense to wonder if it is true a systematic attempt to destroy evidence of abuse of power. "An IRS IT official told National Review that any personal folder containing Lerner's emails may not exist on the Blackberry because, if they exist, then IT employees" will not jump through all the hoops to recover data from [Lerner's crashed hard] drive "in June 2011.
See also
- Enemy List Nixon - a list of Nixon administrations accused of being used to target people with IRS audits
References
Note
Further reading
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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