US Justice opens probe into tax service
Source: Agencies |
May 16, 2013, Thursday
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Print Edition
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US Attorney General Eric Holder was due to testify before Congress yesterday as the Justice Department opens a criminal investigation of the federal tax collection agency's targeting of conservative groups for extra scrutiny.
Holder said he ordered the FBI to investigate on Friday - the day the Internal Revenue Service publicly acknowledged it had singled out conservative groups.
"Those (actions) were, I think, as everyone can agree, if not criminal, they were certainly outrageous and unacceptable," Holder said. "But we are examining the facts to see if there were criminal violations."
The tax agency investigation comes as the Obama administration is dogged by several scandals, including its response to last year's deadly attack on a US diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, and the seizure of Associated Press phone records in a leak investigation. The trio of tempests has emboldened opposition Republicans as they seek to stymie Obama's second-term agenda and score political points ahead of next year's congressional elections.
Holder is scheduled to testify before the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee.
The leader of the House, Speaker John Boehner, said, "My question isn't about who is going to have to resign, my question is who is going to jail over this scandal?"
Three congressional committees are also investigating the tax agency for targeting tea party and other conservative groups during the 2010 congressional elections and the 2012 presidential election. But a criminal investigation would take the matter to another level if authorities prove that laws were broken.
A report released on Tuesday lays much of the blame on tax agency supervisors in Washington who oversaw a group of specialists in a regional office who screened applications for tax exempt status. Ineffective management allowed agents to improperly target tea party groups for more than 18 months, said the Treasury inspector general for tax administration.
"The report's findings are intolerable and inexcusable," President Barack Obama said in a statement. "The federal government must conduct itself in a way that's worthy of the public's trust, and that's especially true for the IRS. The IRS must apply the law in a fair and impartial way, and its employees must act with utmost integrity. This report shows that some of its employees failed that test."
The agency started targeting groups with "Tea Party," "Patriots" or "9/12 Project" in their applications for tax exempt status in March 2010, the inspector general's report said. By August 2010, it was part of the written criteria used to flag groups for additional scrutiny.
Tea party groups emerged after Obama took office in 2009 and take their name from the Boston Tea Party, a 1773 protest by American colonists against taxation without representation in the British government. The conservative groups generally advocate limited government.
IRS agents were trying to determine whether the political activities of such groups disqualified them for tax exempt status. These groups were claiming tax exempt status as organizations promoting social welfare. Unlike other charitable groups, they can engage in political activity, but politics cannot be the primary mission.
(AP)
Holder said he ordered the FBI to investigate on Friday - the day the Internal Revenue Service publicly acknowledged it had singled out conservative groups.
"Those (actions) were, I think, as everyone can agree, if not criminal, they were certainly outrageous and unacceptable," Holder said. "But we are examining the facts to see if there were criminal violations."
The tax agency investigation comes as the Obama administration is dogged by several scandals, including its response to last year's deadly attack on a US diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, and the seizure of Associated Press phone records in a leak investigation. The trio of tempests has emboldened opposition Republicans as they seek to stymie Obama's second-term agenda and score political points ahead of next year's congressional elections.
Holder is scheduled to testify before the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee.
The leader of the House, Speaker John Boehner, said, "My question isn't about who is going to have to resign, my question is who is going to jail over this scandal?"
Three congressional committees are also investigating the tax agency for targeting tea party and other conservative groups during the 2010 congressional elections and the 2012 presidential election. But a criminal investigation would take the matter to another level if authorities prove that laws were broken.
A report released on Tuesday lays much of the blame on tax agency supervisors in Washington who oversaw a group of specialists in a regional office who screened applications for tax exempt status. Ineffective management allowed agents to improperly target tea party groups for more than 18 months, said the Treasury inspector general for tax administration.
"The report's findings are intolerable and inexcusable," President Barack Obama said in a statement. "The federal government must conduct itself in a way that's worthy of the public's trust, and that's especially true for the IRS. The IRS must apply the law in a fair and impartial way, and its employees must act with utmost integrity. This report shows that some of its employees failed that test."
The agency started targeting groups with "Tea Party," "Patriots" or "9/12 Project" in their applications for tax exempt status in March 2010, the inspector general's report said. By August 2010, it was part of the written criteria used to flag groups for additional scrutiny.
Tea party groups emerged after Obama took office in 2009 and take their name from the Boston Tea Party, a 1773 protest by American colonists against taxation without representation in the British government. The conservative groups generally advocate limited government.
IRS agents were trying to determine whether the political activities of such groups disqualified them for tax exempt status. These groups were claiming tax exempt status as organizations promoting social welfare. Unlike other charitable groups, they can engage in political activity, but politics cannot be the primary mission.
(AP)
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