The IRS Scandal, Day 852

Post and Courier editorial, Report: Shocking IRS Behavior:

There’s plenty to be shocked by in the thousands of pages of the Senate Finance Committee’s bipartisan report on the IRS scandal.

But the most shocking is that employees who reviewed applications from organizations seeking tax-exempt status were told to sit on any of them aspiring to educate the public on “the Constitution and Bill of Rights.”

The IRS official in charge of this decision was Lois Lerner, who has refused to testify before Congress on the grounds of possible self-incrimination, a privilege guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. Talk about irony.

Ms. Lerner apparently was concerned in 2011 that applications with “Tea Party” in their self-description were to be given extra scrutiny and, in effect, put on ice. According to the Senate report, of 290 applications from conservative groups received by the IRS from 2010 to early 2012, only one had been approved by the time of the 2012 presidential election. ...

The exhaustive report by the Senate Finance Committee found no evidence that the crackdown was directed by any outside authority. But Lois Lerner is reported to have expressed views hostile to conservatives and favorable to the Democratic Party and the labor movement.

There is evidence that two applications from the Occupy movement were also mishandled. But of the groups with politically identifiable positions whose applications for tax-exempt status were taken out of the normal approval process, centralized and subjected to long delays, 83 percent were conservative and only 17 percent were liberal. All evidence points to a decided bias in IRS treatment of conservative groups. ...

The Senate Judiciary Committee report makes it clear why the administration wouldn’t want the full truth about the IRS scandal to emerge.

• The IRS Scandal, Day 851 (Sept. 7, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 850 (Sept. 6, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 849 (Sept. 5, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 848 (Sept. 4, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 847 (Sept. 3, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 846 (Sept. 2, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 845 (Sept. 1, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 844 (Aug. 31, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 843 (Aug. 30, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 842 (Aug. 29, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 841 (Aug. 28, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 840 (Aug. 27, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 839 (Aug. 26, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 838 (Aug. 25, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 837 (Aug. 24, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 836 (Aug. 23, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 835 (Aug. 22, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 834 (Aug. 21, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 833 (Aug. 20, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 832 (Aug. 19, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 831 (Aug. 18, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 830 (Aug. 17, 2015)
• 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)