Monday, August 17, 2015
The IRS Scandal, Day 830
Forbes: Gross Mismanagement At IRS, Says Senate Report, by Robert W. Wood:
After a long wait, the Finance Committee has released a bipartisan report on the IRS scandal. Since some private taxpayer information was at issue, there have been closed door sessions and interviews leading up to the report. The IRS wasn’t really targeting, it was just incompetent, the report seems to suggest. Top IRS managers did not stay informed about the applications involving possible political advocacy.
And management, top management at least, didn’t really monitor things. Lois Lerner was on top of the issues as early as 2010, but failed to tell her superiors, the report suggests. In fact, the report says that under Ms. Lerner’s leadership, the IRS Exempt Organizations unit launched seven initiatives to handle applications from Tea Party and other groups for tax-exempt status. Each of the seven initiatives failed.
That meant long delays—as long as five years—for some organizations awaiting decisions on IRS tax exemption applications. What’s more, the report says IRS employees handling exemption applications did not appear to be worried about delays or customer service. In some cases, organizations got tired of waiting and disbanded. For others, the delays meant forgone grants.
This report was delayed for over a year after the IRS belatedly informed the Senate Finance Committee that the IRS could not recover large numbers of potentially responsive documents. They were lost when Lois Lerner’s hard drive crashed in 2011.
The report acknowledges that the IRS functioned in a politicized atmosphere following the the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. ...
“Undoubtedly,” the report says ”these events will erode public confidence and sow doubt about the impartiality of the IRS. The lack of candor by IRS management about the circumstances surrounding Lois Lerner’s missing emails may only serve to reinforce those doubts.” It is hard to argue with that.
- The IRS Scandal, Day 829 (Aug. 16, 2015)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 828 (Aug. 15, 2015)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 827 (Aug. 14, 2015)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 826 (Aug. 13, 2015)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 825 (Aug. 12, 2015)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 824 (Aug. 11, 2015)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 823 (Aug. 10, 2015)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 822 (Aug. 9, 2015)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 821 (Aug. 8, 2015)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 820 (Aug. 7, 2015)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 819 (Aug. 6, 2015)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 818 (Aug. 5, 2015)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 817 (Aug. 4, 2015)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 816 (Aug. 3, 2015)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 815 (Aug. 2, 2015)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 814 (Aug. 1, 2015)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 813 (July 31, 2015)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 812 (July 30, 2015)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 811 (July 29, 2015)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 810 (July 28, 2015)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 809 (July 27, 2015)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 808 (July 26, 2015)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 807 (July 25, 2015)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 806 (July 24, 2015)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 805 (July 23, 2015)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 804 (July 22, 2015)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 803 (July 21, 2015)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 802 (July 20, 2015)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 801 (July 19, 2015)
- The IRS Scandal, Days 701-800 (April 10, 2015 - July 18, 2015)
- The IRS Scandal, Days 601-700 (Dec. 31, 2014 - April 9, 2015)
- 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)
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2015/08/the-irs-scandal-day-827.html
Comments
Gross mismanagement? Lets hold the managers accountable, like Lerner and her superiors. Emails show a concerted effort by IRS managers to go through organized crime like efforts to go after non-Democrats.
Posted by: wodun | Aug 17, 2015 11:41:18 AM
if IRS employee Lerner was grossly incompetent, how did she get promoted to the position she held and how was she given outstanding ratings
Posted by: lord garth | Aug 17, 2015 9:22:01 AM
The fact that this report is such a weak sister is just a reflection that the Democrats on the committee were in total war mode against the truth. They long ago sold out to putting Party Ahead of Country. For them it is about power at ANY price, and ANY means to cover up Democrat crimes are acceptable to them.
Posted by: Andrew Russell | Aug 17, 2015 8:28:32 AM
“Undoubtedly,” the report says ”these events will erode public confidence and sow doubt about the impartiality of the IRS. The lack of candor by IRS management about the circumstances surrounding Lois Lerner’s missing emails may only serve to reinforce those doubts.”
As my teenage kids would say, Duh.
Worse than that, the lack of faith I have in Congressional oversight makes me believe that these conclusions are watered down, if not outright misleading. The burden of proof should be on the IRS to show beyond a "smidgen" of a doubt that there were NO political machinations and interference going on, and inflict severe punishment on anyone involved, (e.g., Lois Lerner bonus money should be clawed back.)
Posted by: ruralcounsel | Aug 17, 2015 5:03:10 AM
This is the government that everyone goes into fits about "shutting down"?
What a joke.
Posted by: Scott | Aug 17, 2015 12:50:12 PM