The IRS Scandal, Day 877

Washington Examiner, IRS Needs a Housecleaning, Not Retention Bonuses:

Earlier this year, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen warned taxpayers that they would suffer delays and poor service from his agency during tax time. In doing so, he cited cuts to the IRS budget.

But as we noted at the time, this was a case of malingering and retaliation, not of real need at the IRS. The IRS had access to $500 million in fees that it could use to deliver needed services, but chose to use the money for a long list of other things.

One of those other things was bonuses for senior executives and nonunion managerial employees — a small line item, to be sure, but a rather incredible one to behold at an agency so publicly beset over widespread power-tripping and misconduct within its bureaucracy.

A few new details of the senior IRS bonus binge have finally come to light, thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request from the Tax Analysts. As the Washington Examiner's Paul Bedard reported Wednesday, the agency paid nearly $2 million in bonuses to these top employees between the time Koskinen took his post in late 2013 (amid the targeting scandal) and January 2015. During that period, 456 managerial employees received bonuses. Over the last five years, 1,269 such employees have gotten bonuses and 351 attorneys have received retention incentives, with a total value of $6 million. ...

In any case, an agency caught in such egregious misconduct as the IRS seems like a strange one to be giving bonuses to top staff. Just this week, the IRS has also been dinged in an inspector general investigation for failing to fulfill lawful FOIA requests properly more than 12 percent of the time. According to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, the agency failed to give taxpayers the information to which they were entitled in eight out of 65 cases studied.

In the nearly three years since the targeting scandal was revealed, it has become clear that it was just a symptom of a much deeper problem at the IRS — a culture that lacks accountability, rewards failure, and persecutes the innocent. Like the Department of Veterans Affairs, it needs a thorough housecleaning, not retention bonuses.

• The IRS Scandal, Day 876 (Oct. 2, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 875 (Oct. 1, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 874 (Sept. 30, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 873 (Sept. 29, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 872 (Sept. 28, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 871 (Sept. 27, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 870 (Sept. 26, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 869 (Sept. 25, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 868 (Sept. 24, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 867 (Sept. 23, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 866 (Sept. 22, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 865 (Sept. 21, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 864 (Sept. 20, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 863 (Sept. 19, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 862 (Sept. 18, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 861 (Sept. 17, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 860 (Sept. 16, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 859 (Sept. 15, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 858 (Sept. 14, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 857 (Sept. 13, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 856 (Sept. 12, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 855 (Sept. 11, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 854 (Sept. 10, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 853 (Sept. 9, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 852 (Sept. 8, 2015)
• 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)