Thursday, August 4, 2016
The IRS Scandal, Day 1183
Forbes: Heading The IRS Shouldn't Be Mission Impossible: GOP Call To Impeach Koskinen Is Tragic Political Theater, by Len Burman:
The 2016 Republican Party platform demands that Congress impeach and convict Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen. His “high crimes and misdemeanors” primarily consist of annoying congressional leaders and heading an agency charged with interpreting and enforcing the incoherent tax laws that Congress has inflicted on the American public—the definition of a thankless job. Impeaching the commissioner may be good political theater, but it’s bad for the country.
Over the years, the IRS has been led by a long list of admirable public servants of both parties. One, Mort Caplin, just celebrated his 100th birthday. Mort, a war hero decorated for valor at Normandy, probably saw serving as JFK’s Commissioner as a comparatively safe job.
Current Commissioner John Koskinen is only dodging metaphorical bullets, but the hail of fire is unrelenting. ...
He probably didn’t anticipate that his hard work would result in some House leaders and the official GOP platform calling for his impeachment. The charges: some emails lost by IRS staff and making a House committee wait a few weeks before responding to a subpoena. The same Treasury inspector general who flagged the targeting of conservative groups called Koskinen “exceptionally cooperative.” (AEI’s Norm Ornstein published an excellent dissection of what he calls the House “show trial” in The Atlantic.) ...
Koskinen, who is tough as nails, will be okay, but the damage to our fiscal system could be longer lasting. If the goal is to improve the IRS—as it should be—the agency needs more people like Koskinen, Caplin, and the admirable souls who served between them (many of whom have rallied to Koskinen’s defense). Public servants willing to take on the enormous challenges facing the IRS shouldn’t have to face a hail of metaphorical bullets for trying to do their job.
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1182 (Aug. 3, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1181 (Aug. 2, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1180 (Aug. 1, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1179 (July 31, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1178 (July 30, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1177 (July 29, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1176 (July 28, 2017)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1175 (July 27, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1174 (July 26, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1173 (July 25, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1172 (July 24, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1171 (July 23, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1170 (July 22, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1169 (July 21, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1168 (July 20, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1167 (July 19, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1166 (July 18, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1165 (July 17, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1164 (July 16, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1163 (July 15, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1162 (July 14, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1161 (July 13, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1160 (July 12, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1159 (July 11, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1158 (July 10, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1157 (July 9, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1156 (July 8, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1155 (July 7, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1154 (July 6, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1153 (July 5, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1152 (July 4, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1151 (July 3, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1150 (July 2, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1149 (July 1, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1148 (June 30, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1147 (June 29, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1146 (June 28, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1145 (June 27, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1144 (June 26, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1143 (June 25, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1142 (June 24, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1141 (June 23, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1140 (June 22, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1139 (June 21, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1138 (June 20, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1137 (June 19, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1136 (June 18, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1135 (June 17, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1134 (June 16, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1133 (June 15, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1132 (June 14, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1131 (June 13, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1130 (June 12, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1129 (June 11, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1128 (June 10, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1127 (June 9, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1126 (June 8, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1125 (June 7, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1124 (June 6, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1123 (June 5, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1122 (June 4, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1121 (June 3, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1020 (June 2, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1119 (June 1, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1118 (May 31, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1117 (May 30, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1116 (May 29, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1115 (May 28, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1114 (May 27, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1113 (May 26, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1112 (May 25, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1111 (May 24, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1110 (May 23, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1109 (May 22, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1108 (May 21, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1107 (May 20, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1106 (May 19, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1105 (May 18, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1104 (May 17, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1103 (May 16, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1102 (May 15, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Day 1101 (May 14, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Days 1001-1100 (Feb. 4, 2016 - May 13, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Days 901-1000 (Oct. 27, 2015 - Feb. 3, 2016)
- The IRS Scandal, Days 801-900 (July 19, 2015 - Oct. 26, 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, 201
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2016/08/the-irs-scandal-day-1183.html
Comments
His “high crimes and misdemeanors” primarily consist of annoying congressional leaders
Uh, not really. That Democrats fail to understand the seriousness of what happened at the IRS before and after Koskinen took over just goes to show how little they care about the things they badger others about.
Party wide corruption from coast to coast.
Posted by: wodun | Aug 4, 2016 3:57:33 PM
There are plenty of people who would accept the job of Commissioner who would not lie to Congress, obstruct investigations, and fail to clean house. It makes a lot more sense to impeach the Commissioner than to cut the IRS budget, Congress's other tool for misbehaving executive branch officials.
Posted by: Eric Rasmusen | Aug 4, 2016 1:04:35 PM
Len is my tax hero, and I trust his evaluation of Koskinen's toughness and skill.
I just re-read Section II of this statement https://judiciary.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/HHRG-114-JU00-Wstate-C001076-20160524.pdf
which summarizes the complaints against Commissioner Koskinen. His tenure post-dates the IRS's practice of blockading Tea Party applications for exempt status. All the complaints relate to his handling of Congress' requests for information and especially how the results differed from his assurances to Congress.
I'm an outsider, but it looks to me as if Koskinen's toughness worked against him here. He transparently resents Congressional intrusion into his work, and I believe that he treated Congressional requests for information with much less seriousness than he should have. It's apparent that he did not order his people to search for backups or any alternate systems containing Lerner's lost (or destroyed) emails: TIGTA had no trouble discovering that backups existed, but that they had been routinely erased a month after the subpoena. Quoting from the pdf I linked: "The IRS didn’t even bother to look for the Lois Lerner emails in some very obvious places."
To be clear, I don't believe that Koskinen intended to participate in a cover-up. I believe that he regarded the subpoena as essentially illegitimate and unworthy of his attention. In other words, it was nothing but a waste of his time. This is consistent with toughness becoming stubbornness: a flaw rather than an asset. Another management hazard is loyalty to one's people, some of whom may be bad actors.
When several of Koskinen's assurances to Congress proved to be untrue, it was time for him to resign and clear the way for someone who could build more credibility with Congress. Starting from zero would be better than starting from a position of negative credibility. Again, toughness became stubbornness, with the desire to beat those nasty House committee members overriding the national interest in having an IRS Commissioner who has the trust of all of Congress.
As to impeachment, I agree that it's a circus, driven mostly by frustration with a near-blackout of this story by the media. Impeachment would force some media coverage of what happened, but in addition to being unfair to Koskinen it would never succeed.
Again, I'm an outsider, so some of the above is conjectural and some of it is probably wrong. But that's how it looks to me.
Posted by: AMTbuff | Aug 4, 2016 10:23:41 PM