Paul L. Caron
Dean





Friday, January 15, 2016

The IRS Scandal, Day 981

IRS Logo 2House Ways & Means Committee press release, Ways and Means Chairmen Call On IRS to Quickly Implement GAO Recommendations to Protect Taxpayers:

Today, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released two new reports regarding serious flaws in the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) audit selection processes. GAO confirmed that these flaws mean the IRS could continue to unfairly target American taxpayers based on their political beliefs and other First Amendment protected views.

House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) and Subcommittee on Oversight Chairman Peter Roskam (R-IL) expressed concerns about GAO’s findings and called on the IRS to immediately take action.

“In December, Congress passed into law regulations to ensure that the IRS can no longer target American taxpayers for their political beliefs,” said Chairman Brady. “GAO has now exposed serious weaknesses in the IRS’s auditing process and confirmed that Americans remain at risk of political targeting.  Ways and Means members will hold the IRS accountable for quickly implementing GAO’s recommendations and finally treating all American taxpayers fairly.”

“We already knew the IRS was targeting political opponents of the Administration when vetting groups applying for tax-exempt status. Now we have reports from GAO raising concerns about the audit selection process throughout IRS operations. The American people deserve better. We must do more to ensure the IRS treats all Americans fairly, holds employees responsible for these abuses accountable, and implements procedures to prevent this abuse from ever happening again,” said Subcommittee Chairman Roskam

BACKGROUND ON THE REPORTS

After Committee members learned that the IRS had targeted conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status, they were concerned that this could be happening in other divisions within the agency, particularly audit selection.

As a result, the Committee asked the GAO to review each business unit within the IRS to determine whether there were protections in place to ensure that audits are selected fairly and without bias.

On July 23, 2015, GAO released its first report on the Tax Exempt/Government Entities division and the Oversight Subcommittee held a hearing on this report.

Today’s GAO reports confirm serious problems at the Small Business/Self Employed unit and the Wage & Investment unit.

https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2016/01/the-irs-scandal-day-981.html

IRS News, IRS Scandal, Tax | Permalink

Comments

Amen to bflat879.

Posted by: Teapartydoc | Jan 15, 2016 11:25:33 AM

A good start would be to decertify all government employee unions, then move on from there.

Posted by: bflat879 | Jan 15, 2016 8:28:40 AM