By
Dave Boyer The Washington Times Monday, June 24, 2013
In
another damaging revelation, the new head of the Internal Revenue
Service said Monday that an internal probe had uncovered more instances
of agents using “inappropriate” political lists to single out tax-exempt
applications for extra scrutiny, and he acknowledged that the practice
went on far longer than previously reported.
While previous
accounts of IRS targeting focused on tea party and conservative groups,
the agency’s own investigation reportedly found that agents also were
going after groups with terms such as “Israel,” “Progressive” and
“Occupy” in their names.
The IRS screeners referred to the practice as its “be on the lookout” list, or BOLO, of potentially problematic applications.
IRS
Commissioner Danny Werfel told reporters on a conference call Monday
that IRS agents still were using inappropriate and politically loaded
screening terms when he took over the troubled agency last month. He did
not specify what terms were on the lists, but said he suspended the use
of all such lists immediately.
“There were a series of these
types of lists being used in this part of the IRS as part of their
review of tax-exempt applications,” Mr. Werfel told reporters in a
conference call. “We believe there continued to be inappropriate or
questionable criteria on these BOLO lists.”
The IRS and the Obama
administration are facing several congressional probes and a Justice
Department criminal investigation into revelations that the agency gave
extra scrutiny to conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status
from early 2010 through early 2012. The scrutiny began in the Cincinnati
office, where tax-exempt applications are reviewed, but Washington IRS
officials provided early direction, according to congressional
interviews of IRS employees.
Many tea party groups said they are
waiting for the applications to be processed years after they first
applied, and that many of the IRS questions were intrusive and
inappropriate.
Mr. Werfel declined to describe the criteria for
the additional red-flag lists, but The Associated Press obtained an
internal IRS document stating that the lists used by screeners to pick
groups for close examination also included the terms “Israel,”
”Progressive” and “Occupy.” The document said an investigation into why
specific terms were included was still underway.
Though the
agency’s internal investigation remains incomplete, Mr. Werfel said that
he hadn’t found evidence that people outside the IRS Cincinnati office,
such as the Obama campaign or senior IRS officials in Washington, had
pressured the tax agency to target conservative groups. He briefed
President Obama, who appointed him to the post in May after the scandal
broke, and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on the report Monday.
“The
fact that no evidence is surfacing as wrongdoing is an important
conclusion to reach as long as it is qualified by the fact that more
reviews are underway,” Mr. Werfel said. “And so, I’ll be as clear as I
can right now. I’m not providing a definitive conclusion that no
intentional wrongdoing occurred. But I’m suggesting that based on the
ongoing reviews to date, no evidence has yet surfaced.”
Republican reaction
Top Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee said the IRS leadership needs to provide more answers about its practices.
“Who
started this practice, why was it allowed to continue for so long and
how widespread was it?” asked committee Chairman Dave Camp, Michigan
Republican. “This culture of political discrimination and intimidation
goes far beyond basic management failure, and personnel changes alone
won’t fix a broken IRS. Congress will continue the investigation into
the IRS’ actions and hold the agency accountable so we can ensure no
American is targeted again.”
Rep. Charles W. Boustany Jr., a
Louisiana Republican who heads the Ways and Means oversight
subcommittee, called the agency’s actions, including a reported $70
million in planned bonuses for employees, “outrageous.”
“It is
particularly galling that the report concludes that part of the solution
to the IRS’s problems is that it receive $1 billion more in taxpayer
dollars,” Mr. Boustany said in a statement.
House Government
Reform and Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell E. Issa, the California
Republican who has been among the most aggressive critics of recent
administration scandals, said the IRS self-investigation “fails to
meaningfully answer the largest outstanding questions about
inappropriate inquiries and indefensible delays.”
Mr. Issa added:
“As investigations by Congress and the Justice Department are still
ongoing, Mr. Werfel’s assertion that he has found no evidence that
anyone at IRS intentionally did anything wrong can only be called
premature.”
Congressional Democrats said Monday that they have
uncovered evidence for the first time showing that the IRS also targeted
liberal groups, not just conservatives. They said the BOLO lists
included the word “progressives” as a red flag.
Rep. Sander M.
Levin of Michigan, the ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means
Committee, said the omission of this information from an initial
inspector general’s report on the IRS scandal shows that the foundation
of subsequent probes “is flawed in a fundamental way.”
Mr.
Werfel’s remarks accompanied a 60-page internal IRS report concluding
that “significant management and judgment failures occurred” at the
agency.
The IRS is redacting certain personal data from documents
relating to the BOLO lists so that information can be turned over to key
congressional panels investigating the IRS scandal, Mr. Werfel said.
“I
want to get to the bottom of this, and I want this information out … as
quickly as possible so we can air these issues,” he said.
New procedures
The
agency has created a voluntary process for groups that have been
waiting more than 120 days for tax-exempt status to “self-certify” that
they will abide by rules that restrict their political activities. Such
groups must agree that they will not spend more than 40 percent of their
time or money on political campaigns.
“We need to earn and maintain the trust of the American people in order to accomplish our mission,” Mr. Werfel said.
Mr.
Obama has maintained that he knew nothing about political targeting at
the IRS and condemned the practice. The White House on Monday called the
interim review “an important step in ensuring accountability.”
“As
the president has made clear, the misconduct identified in last month’s
inspector general’s report is unacceptable,” White House press
secretary Jay Carney said. “He will not tolerate inappropriate behavior
in any agency, and the president believes that IRS personnel must
operate with absolute integrity, fairness and neutrality.”
Mr. Lew
said he has asked Mr. Werfel to “spend some time outside Washington in
the coming weeks to meet with taxpayers, business leaders and community
officials and to uncover new ways to make the IRS more efficient and
consumer-friendly.”
There have been previous indications that some
liberal or progressive groups might have been singled out for scrutiny
along with politically conservative applicants. Former IRS executive
Holly Paz told congressional investigators last month that the agency’s
“be-on-the-lookout” list for employees had categories for
liberal-sounding groups as well.
© Copyright 2013 The Washington Times, LLC.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jun/24/new-irs-chief-admits-more-targeting-cases/?page=all#pagebreak
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