Tag: IRS

An audit has revealed that in 2010 and 2011 more than 1,000 IRS employees misused government charge cards

4:01 pm

The law is such an inconvenient thing: An audit has revealed that in 2010 and 2011 more than 1,000 IRS employees misused government charge cards.

The key quote from the article is this conclusion from the audit:

The inspector general’s bottom line conclusion in this area was that the IRS is more tolerant of its own employees who misuse government charge cards than it is of American taxpayers who fail to pay their taxes in a timely manner.

“Of particular concern is the fact that the IRS ask taxpayers to voluntarily pay taxes owed in a timely manner and yet was more tolerant when its employees became delinquent and defaulted on outstanding payments, violated the terms of the Citibank contract, abused a Government-provided resource (travel funding), and compromised the integrity of the IRS.”

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The National Security Agency can secretly access user data provided by as many as fifty American companies, ranging from credit rating agencies to internet service providers.

6:15 pm

The National Security Agency can secretly access user data provided by as many as fifty American companies, ranging from credit rating agencies to internet service providers.

The furor this week over this NSA snoop scandal is fascinating to me. The snooping really isn’t news, as it has been known for years that the NSA delves into these kinds of records in its effort to identify terrorist activity.

So, why the sudden furor and outrage? Up until a few weeks ago, most Americans assumed the federal government restricted this kind of snooping to foreign sources and to specifically hunting for terrorists. Now, however, after the IRS scandal, the public realizes that this government, under Obama at least, is quite willing to abuse its power for partisan political reasons. Under Obama, the IRS was used to target innocent Americans, merely because they disagreed with Obama. The public now realizes that it is also likely that this administration will abuse its access to the private information gathered by NSA, and that sends chills up people’s spines.

Thus, the furor. This kind of snooping is suddenly perceived as a real threat to Americans.

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“The IRS scandal is much worse than anyone realizes.”

10:20 pm

“The IRS scandal is much worse than anyone realizes.”

How did I know this was a coordinated attack on conservative critics and donors? Because just in my small inner circle of friends, virtually every businessman that I met was getting hit with IRS audit notices only weeks after writing checks to the GOP and Mitt Romney. Strange coincidence, huh?

In one case, a friend of mine who is a hedge fund CEO attended the first major Wall Street fundraiser for Mitt Romney. Only a select few Wall Street big shots attended. After they went home, almost every one of them in the room that wrote a check to Romney later reported receiving IRS audit notices.

In another case, a friend of mine wrote a big check to Romney. He called me to report his suspicions when only weeks later he received an IRS notice. In another case, my next-door neighbor (who is a big GOP donor) reported being under vicious IRS attack. In another case, my accountant was suddenly audited only months after my first IRS attack. Even my publicist received an IRS audit notice.

The author of this article — a well known conservative critic of Obama — was himself audited twice, and exonerated twice. The second audit notice came five days after he had won in court the first time.

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Two IRS employees in Cincinnati have told congressional investigators that officials in Washington directed and established the policy of harassing conservative groups that began in 2010.

10:18 am

Two IRS employees in Cincinnati have told congressional investigators that officials in Washington directed and established the policy of harassing conservative groups that began in 2010.

I especially like this quote:

Hofacre said she was outraged last month when IRS higher-ups, including Lois Lerner, then the head of the IRS tax-exempt division, blamed the problem on employees in Cincinnati. “I was furious,” Ms. Hofacre told interviewers. “It looked like Lois Lerner was putting it on us.”

Yup, that is exactly what Lerner was doing — looking for a fall guy.

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“I can say with a very strong sense of certainty that there are people very close to this president that not only knew what the IRS were doing but authorized it.”

9:01 am

“I can say with a very strong sense of certainty that there are people very close to this president that not only knew what the IRS were doing but authorized it.”

Said by an ABC news reporter today.

In related news, it appears that the IRS not only targeted conservative organizations which applied for tax exempt status, the tax agency also targeted the donors to those organizations.

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Transcript excerpts of House testimony by two IRS employees show that the policy to harass conservatives was ordered by supervisors in Washington.

11:25 am

Transcript excerpts of House testimony by two IRS employees show that the policy to harass conservatives was ordered by supervisors in Washington.

When these employees testify publicly, it will not be pretty for the Obama administration. The next question will of course be: Who were those supervisors, and who gave them their orders?

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When Lois Lerner worked for the FEC she offered to drop a case against a conservative if he promised never to run for office again.

11:34 pm

Working for the Democratic Party: When IRS thug Lois Lerner worked for the FEC she offered to drop a case against a conservative running for the Senate if he promised never to run for office again.

The conservative refused, and the case went to court, where all charges were dismissed. Nonetheless, the conservative subsequently decided that the harassment from the government, which also included a visit from the FBI, was not worth it, and has not run for office since.

In other words, Lerner’s harassment worked, to the benefit of the Democratic Party.

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The IRS has told a House investigation that almost 90 IRS agents were involved in harassment scandal.

3:53 pm

The IRS has told a House investigation that almost 90 IRS agents were involved in harassment scandal.

If I was Obama and had anything at all to do with this policy, I would be very very nervous. With this many IRS agents involved it will be impossible to control this scandal. Someone is going to spill the beans and tell us who established this harassment policy, and it certainly wasn’t some “low level rogue agents”, as Lois Lerner first claimed.

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The IRS has refused to meet the deadline for answering questions put to it by the Senate Finance Committee concerning its harassment of conservatives.

3:27 pm

Above the law: The IRS has refused to meet the deadline for answering questions put to it by the Senate Finance Committee concerning its harassment of conservatives.

The questions were focused on trying to find out exactly who established the IRS’s policy in this scandal. If Obama was as outraged as he claims about this, and had nothing to do with it, he should have been very willing to make the IRS respond to this quickly. That they are instead stonewalling once again tells us that they, and Obama, do not really want the public to know who conceived the harassment policy. I wonder why.

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“Their collective experiences at a minimum could spread skepticism about the fairness of a powerful agency that should be above reproach and at worst could point to a secret political vendetta within the government against conservatives.”

3:22 pm

“Their collective experiences at a minimum could spread skepticism about the fairness of a powerful agency that should be above reproach and at worst could point to a secret political vendetta within the government against conservatives.”

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One of the IRS agents who signed letters harassing conservatives was recently promoted.

9:39 pm

One of the IRS agents who signed letters harassing conservatives was recently promoted.

Through 2012, then-Exempt Organization Specialist Stephen Seok signed many of the intimidating letters sent to conservative nonprofits. For example, this January 2012 letter sent to the Richmond Tea Party demanded the date, time and location of all group events, as well as copies of all handouts provided at the events, and the names and credentials of all organizers. Seok also demanded the names of all speakers and the contents of the speeches they made.

According to WXIX-TV/Fox 19 in Cincinnati, Seok is no longer an exempt organization specialist. He has since been promoted to “supervisor IRS agent.”

Remember, don’t listen to what Obama says, watch what he actually does. Expressions of outrage mean nothing if he rewards the agents involved.

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College students gladly sign a big thank you card to the IRS for specifically targeting conservatives for harassment.

5:37 pm

Future fascists: College students gladly sign a big thank you card to the IRS for specifically targeting conservatives for harassment. With video.

I repeat: The problem here isn’t that the IRS was researching and challenging organizations that wanted tax exempt status. The problem is that the IRS chose to only challenge (and harass) conservative organizations. The partisan and political nature of the agency’s actions is unacceptable in a civilized society. This video suggests that we no longer live in one.

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The House Ways and Means committee request for information from anyone targeted by the IRS because of their political beliefs is apparently bearing fruit.

1:53 pm

The House Ways and Means committee request for information from anyone targeted by the IRS because of their political beliefs is apparently bearing fruit.

Rep. Pat Tiberi, R-Ohio, a member of Ways and Means, confirmed to The Washington Examiner on Thursday that the evidence being sent to the committee includes secret recordings with IRS officials. This information comports with legal sources who have clients who believe they were targeted by the IRS because they are politically active conservatives who opposed President Obama’s re-election.

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A series of letters signed by IRS official Lois Lerner show that she was directly involved in the agency’s targeting of conservative groups.

10:47 pm

A series of letters signed by IRS official Lois Lerner show that she was directly involved in the agency’s targeting of conservative groups.

I want to make one point that I haven’t read anywhere about this scandal. The problem here really isn’t that the IRS was investigating the legitimacy of giving these conservative organizations tax exempt status. The problem is that they specifically chose to only investigate conservative organizations. Leftwing organizations got a pass.

Either investigate all, or none. I prefer none. But either way, playing favorites for the sake of politics is a partisan corruption of the tax code, and a misuse of the power of government.

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Don’t criminalize the investigations. immunize the witnesses!

10:28 am

Don’t criminalize the investigations. immunize the witnesses!

If we criminalize the investigations, if witnesses are afraid they will be indicted, prosecuted, and punished if they tell the truth about what they’ve been up to, our chances of getting the full picture will be enormously, maybe even fatally, diminished.

We want the truth, the whole truth. The best way to get it is to immunize congressional witnesses who tell the story. That way, they will be part of a common effort to understand what went wrong, rather than targets of a criminal investigation. It may surprise you to learn that there are many civil servants who have quietly asked to be subpoenaed so their superiors will not accuse them of ratting out their bureaucratic cohorts. Fair enough. Subpoena them, and give them the protection of immunity, provided they tell the truth.

The cudgel of criminal action should be reserved for those who insist on clamming up, for they are obstructing investigations desperately needed to protect and advance our freedoms.

And I say, right on! For example, I am not enthused about the claim that Lois Lerner waived her Fifth Amendment rights by her testimony yesterday, thus allowing Congress to force her to speak or charge her with contempt. I fear this will only make her a convenient martyr to be used by the tools of the Obama administration to distract us.

It would be far better to give immunity to as many low level employees as possible. That way, we get the truth out, and the handful who lie to protect Obama and the Democratic Party will be exposed.

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