| Politico | - |
The
most hotly anticipated IRS probe since Watergate didn't exactly live up
to the hype. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration
report leaked on Tuesday evening doesn't nail anyone for lying to
Congress.
5 takeaways from IRS report
The most hotly anticipated IRS probe since Watergate didn’t exactly live up to the hype.
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration report leaked on Tuesday evening doesn’t nail anyone for lying to Congress. It didn’t out rogue liberal IRS agents with an ax to grind against nonprofit tea party groups.
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Here’s the top five things takeaways from the Inspector General report:
IRS agents weren't partisan
Republicans looking for a smoking gun on partisan motive will have to keep looking — the report stops short of calling the IRS intentionally partisan, even if the questions might have been inappropriate.
Most of the report focuses on reprimanding the IRS for choosing ineffective criteria that could be construed as partisan rather than focusing on a partisan motive. Only about 15 percent of the potential cases had the terms “Tea Party,” “patriots” and “9/12” in their organization name. The remaining cases were flagged for other reasons.
The report found that the narrow focus of the criteria “gives the appearance that the IRS is not impartial in conducting its mission.”
“Using the names or policy positions of organizations is not an appropriate basis for identifying applications for review by the team of specialists,” the inspector general said.
(Also on POLITICO: Watchdog: IRS used 'inappropriate criteria')
The report never directly accuses the IRS of bias, just the appearance of impropriety.
Despite the inappropriate search criteria, the majority of applications flagged by the Cincinnati office had indications of significant violations of tax policy. The report found that about 69 percent of the fully documented cases on the list were properly identified.
Unclear on whether the IRS misled Congress
The report remains silent on what is emerging as the biggest Republican grievance — how Acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller and former Commissioner Doug Shulman failed to disclose to Congress what they learned about the targeting program after May 2012.
Miller wrote letters to the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Republicans months after he was briefed but never disclosed that the agency was giving an extra critical eye to conservative groups. Government oversight Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) also accused division head Lois Lerner of misleading Congress after her June 2011 discovery.
“It appears that you provided false or misleading information on four separate occasions last year in response to the committee’s oversight of the IRS’s treatment of conservative groups applying for tax exempt status,” Issa and committee member Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) wrote.
But you won’t read about that in the IG report.
The controversial answers from Miller on why top agency employees did not tell Congress about the extra scrutiny will likely come forth during the Ways and Means hearing this Friday.
Asking about donors crossed the line
If tea party groups thought the questions were intrusive, even the Inspector General agrees that asking about donors and books read was a bridge too far.
The Inspector General said donor lists and details were an unnecessary, burdensome request in the vetting process. That may be the biggest victory for frustrated conservatives.
The report also makes clear that the IRS knew that it overstepped its bounds when it asked for donor records.
“Officials informed us that they decided to destroy all donor lists that were sent in for potential political cases that the IRS determined it should not have requested,” the report said.
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration report leaked on Tuesday evening doesn’t nail anyone for lying to Congress. It didn’t out rogue liberal IRS agents with an ax to grind against nonprofit tea party groups.
Continue Reading
But the watchdog report did break new ground, clearly
declaring that the IRS crossed the line in asking about donors to
conservative groups. It reveals the IRS to be a stubborn agency that
isn’t ready to fix all the problems in the report. And it warns that a
crackdown on these 501(c)(4) groups isn’t coming any time soon.
(PHOTOS: 10 slams on the IRS)Here’s the top five things takeaways from the Inspector General report:
IRS agents weren't partisan
Republicans looking for a smoking gun on partisan motive will have to keep looking — the report stops short of calling the IRS intentionally partisan, even if the questions might have been inappropriate.
Most of the report focuses on reprimanding the IRS for choosing ineffective criteria that could be construed as partisan rather than focusing on a partisan motive. Only about 15 percent of the potential cases had the terms “Tea Party,” “patriots” and “9/12” in their organization name. The remaining cases were flagged for other reasons.
The report found that the narrow focus of the criteria “gives the appearance that the IRS is not impartial in conducting its mission.”
“Using the names or policy positions of organizations is not an appropriate basis for identifying applications for review by the team of specialists,” the inspector general said.
(Also on POLITICO: Watchdog: IRS used 'inappropriate criteria')
The report never directly accuses the IRS of bias, just the appearance of impropriety.
Despite the inappropriate search criteria, the majority of applications flagged by the Cincinnati office had indications of significant violations of tax policy. The report found that about 69 percent of the fully documented cases on the list were properly identified.
Unclear on whether the IRS misled Congress
The report remains silent on what is emerging as the biggest Republican grievance — how Acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller and former Commissioner Doug Shulman failed to disclose to Congress what they learned about the targeting program after May 2012.
Miller wrote letters to the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Republicans months after he was briefed but never disclosed that the agency was giving an extra critical eye to conservative groups. Government oversight Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) also accused division head Lois Lerner of misleading Congress after her June 2011 discovery.
“It appears that you provided false or misleading information on four separate occasions last year in response to the committee’s oversight of the IRS’s treatment of conservative groups applying for tax exempt status,” Issa and committee member Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) wrote.
But you won’t read about that in the IG report.
The controversial answers from Miller on why top agency employees did not tell Congress about the extra scrutiny will likely come forth during the Ways and Means hearing this Friday.
Asking about donors crossed the line
If tea party groups thought the questions were intrusive, even the Inspector General agrees that asking about donors and books read was a bridge too far.
The Inspector General said donor lists and details were an unnecessary, burdensome request in the vetting process. That may be the biggest victory for frustrated conservatives.
The report also makes clear that the IRS knew that it overstepped its bounds when it asked for donor records.
“Officials informed us that they decided to destroy all donor lists that were sent in for potential political cases that the IRS determined it should not have requested,” the report said.
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