Investigation of IRS
Investigation of the IRS
In February 2012, former Chairman Darrell Issa and Subcommittee Chairman Jim Jordan asked the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) to conduct a review into concerns that the IRS was applying inappropriate scrutiny to certain applications for tax-exempt status. In May 2013, TIGTA issued its report and concluded that the IRS had used inappropriate criteria in determining tax-exempt status.
Although the Inspector General later testified that he had found no evidence of political bias in the IRS's handling of any tax-exempt applications, TIGTA's report failed to explicitly include this finding. Moreover, TIGTA's review was critically flawed because it failed to include in its investigation progressive groups that were also subjected to similarly inappropriate screening criteria by the IRS.
Five Things You Should Know:
1. Neither the Inspector General nor the Committee found any evidence to support the central Republican accusation in this investigation that the White House directed the use of inappropriate criteria in screening tax-exempt applications.
2. A self-proclaimed conservative Republican IRS manager in Cincinnati told Committee staff that he personally initiated and oversaw the tax-exempt screening criteria process
3. Progressive groups were subjected to similar scrutiny by IRS employees in Cincinnati, and the Inspector General is currently conducting an investigation into this conduct.
4. The Inspector General found that former IRS official Lois Lerner's hard drive crash occurred two weeks before she was informed about the use of inappropriate criteria by IRS employees in Cincinnati. He also found that "immediately" upon learning about the use of inappropriate screening criteria, Ms. Lerner directed that the criteria be changed..
5. The IRS has spent more than $20 million in responding to Congressional inquiries, and it has produced more than 1 million pages of documents to the Committee. The Committee has conducted more than 50 transcribed interviews of IRS, Treasury Department and Department of Justice employees and to date, has uncovered no evidence of political bias by IRS employees, of intentional destruction of Ms. Lerner's emails, or involvement by the White House.
Quick Links:
Press Releases
- Read Top Ten Unsubstantiated Republican Claims on Justice Department's IRS Investigation
- Read Contemporaneous Emails Show Lerner Computer Crash Resulted From Technological Failure, Not "Nefarious" Activity
- View RESOURCES FOR IRS CONTEMPT VOTE
- Read Cummings Issues New Report on IRS Screening; Releases Excerpts from All 39 Witness Interview Transcripts
- Read New CRS Report Finds No Historical Precedent For Issa Contempt Proceeding
- Read Twenty Five Independent Legal Experts Now Agree That Issa Botched Contempt
- Read Top Democrats Call for End to House GOP's Abuse of Power, Demand Vote to Condemn Issa's Actions
- Read Issa Turns Off Mic, Tries to Silence Cummings and Democrats at IRS Hearing
- Read Republican IRS Investigations Have Cost At Least $14 Million ... And Counting
- Read IRS Confirms Confidential Tax Information Not Shared With White House
- Read New Documents Highlight IRS Scrutiny of Progressive Groups
- Read BREAKING: IRS Inspector General Intervened Personally to Block Production of Documents Relating to Non-Tea Party Groups
- Read Cummings, Connolly Call on IRS IG to Testify on Objection to Producing Documents about Progressive Groups
- Read Cummings to Issa: No Evidence that IRS Targeted Conservative Groups for Audits
- Read Cummings Responds to Issa's Reversal on Releasing Full IRS Transcripts
- Read Cummings Releases Information from Interviews with 15 IRS Employees
- Read "Conservative Republican" Manager in Charge of IRS Screeners in Cincinnati Denies Any White House Involvement or Political Influence in Screening Tea Party Cases
- Read Cummings Responds to Issa's Claims about IRS
- Read Cummings Opening Statement for IRS Oversight Hearing