Paul L. Caron
Dean





Wednesday, April 15, 2015

The IRS Scandal, Day 706

IRS Logo 2Forbes, Lois Lerner Emails Defend Targeting, Warn IRS Employees Emails Can Be Seen By Congress, by Robert W. Wood:

At tax time, is it any wonder that Americans are afraid of the IRS? Talk of secret emails, and political targeting criteria are worrisome. President Obama said there was not a smidgen of corruption at the IRS. He said any missteps were innocent and entirely the fault of bonehead decisions in local offices. If you are still not convinced it is all so innocent, just in time for your April 15 tax filing, a new batch of IRS documents has been released.

One email from former IRS firebrand Lois Lerner is particularly revealing. Sure, she said she did nothing wrong, she was the victim, and she still took the Fifth. But in February 2012, she wanted to “put together some training points to help them [IRS staffers] understand the potential pitfalls” of revealing too much information to Congress. This is the IRS version of don’t tell.

The documents also contain a Lerner email from 2013 in which she says she is willing to take the blame on some aspects of the scandal. Of course, she would later take the Fifth, something the Justice Department just said was OK despite Congress’ contempt citation. Ms. Lerner also wrote in one of those sticky emails that she “understands why the IRS criteria” leading to the targeting of Tea Party and other opponents of the President Obama “might raise questions.”

Just questions? The documents were released in the case of Judicial Watch v. IRS. Although the latest release still does not reveal all of Lerner’s actions, it is Lerner’s most extended public discussion, including her defenses.

https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2015/04/the-irs-3.html

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