One of the most feared agencies in our government is the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).  It has the power and authority to scrutinize taxpayers concerning very intimate aspects of their lives and this process can be very time consuming and expensive for those targeted.  As a result of abuses that were perpetrated by the Nixon Administration in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, such behavior by the IRS was outlawed.  So, it is with a sour stomach that I am reading about a new abuse perpetrated by this agency on innocent taxpayers for no other reason than their political beliefs.  The abuse revealed by the IRS concerning harassing taxpayers based upon their political leanings should send chills down every voter’s spine.

The fact is a high ranking IRS official knew the agency had abused taxpayers as early as mid-2011.   Ms. Lois Lerner, was head of the tax exempt unit (a very senior IRS position) and it is clear that she was aware of the abuse in mid-2011 because by July of 2011 she raised concerns about the practice and had it changed.  However, it appears that these actions were concealed from Congress (probably due to the political reproductions upon entering the presidential election cycle) and were not released by the IRS until just before the Inspector General’s probe was about to release its report.  The Inspector General initiated its investigation at the behest of Congress due to complaints from taxpayer’s concerning the IRS targeting certain tax exempts for unusual scrutiny due to political leanings.

The claim is that the Cleveland office where this criteria and behavior were initiated was not related to political beliefs, but the misguided behavior of over conscientious civil servants does not really pass the smell test!  The fact that Ms. Lerner, a senior IRS official knew about the abuse and did not come clean to Congress when Republican lawmakers queried her should result in her being fired or forced to resign.  The possibility that her behavior rose to a cover up should be enough.  Due to the propensity of abuse for political purposes and IRS’s ability to harm taxpayers if it abuses its powers, is reason enough it must be held to a higher standard and even the whiff of scandal must be purged!