The IRS Scandal, Day 619

USA Today, IRS Boss: Please Don't Call During Filing Season:

Grover Norquist, the anti-tax crusader behind Americans for Tax Reform, accused the IRS Wednesday of employing the "Washington Monument" strategy of cutting the most popular programs in response to budget cuts.

It's an allegation Koskinen denied. "It's clearly Illusory at this point that you can cut the budget any further and not have an impact," he said. "If I wanted to do a Washington Monument, I'd shut the place down in the middle of filing season, to demonstrate to people what it would look like. Obviously, we want to do anything but that."

Wall Street Journal, Taxman Shrugged: Will the IRS Go on Strike?, by James Taranto:

[A]nother law-enforcement agency is threatening to follow suit. “Taxpayers could see delays in getting their refunds this year—as well as ‘unacceptable’ customer service—as the IRS commissioner warns budget cuts are forcing the agency to cut back,” Fox News reports. ...

It’s all rather comical—but also galling. The IRS’s abuse of power in its harassment of conservative nonprofits aimed in substantial part at suppressing opposition to ObamaCare. That is, the IRS traduced the free-speech rights of citizens in order to preserve a law expanding IRS power and creating more work for IRS agents.

Now the commissioner complains that the IRS has too much work and not enough resources and threatens to make life even more difficult for taxpayers. It’s like the guy who killed his parents and then pleaded for mercy because he was an orphan.

• Forbes, IRS Efile Success Story Belies Agency Budget Cut Whining
• NewsBusters, CBS Defends IRS Against Republican ‘Payback’ Cuts to IRS Budget

• The IRS Scandal, Day 618 (Jan. 17, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 617 (Jan. 16, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 616 (Jan. 15, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 615 (Jan. 14, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 614 (Jan. 13, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 613 (Jan. 12, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 612 (Jan. 11, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 611 (Jan. 10, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 610 (Jan. 9, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 609 (Jan. 8, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 608 (Jan. 7, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 607 (Jan. 6, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 606 (Jan. 5, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 605 (Jan. 4, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 604 (Jan. 3, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 603 (Jan. 2, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 602 (Jan. 1, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 601 (Dec. 31, 2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 501-600 (Sept. 22, 2014-Dec. 30, 2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 401-500 (June 14, 2014 - Sept. 21,2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 301-400 (Mar. 6, 2014 - June 13, 2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 201-300 (Nov. 26, 2013 - Mar. 5, 2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 101-200 (Aug. 18, 2013 - Nov. 25, 2013)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 1-100 (May 10, 2013 - Aug. 17, 2013)