By Jim Haddadin
jhaddadin@fosters.com |
Thursday, May 16, 2013
|
DOVER — With a scandal at the Internal Revenue Service continuing to broaden, U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen faced fresh criticism Wednesday from her political opponents over letters she sent to a former IRS commissioner.
Republicans are accusing Shaheen and other Senate Democrats of exerting pressure on the IRS to crack down on political groups seeking nonprofit status.
The critique comes amid new revelations this week that the IRS improperly targeted conservative groups for scrutiny over a period of more than 18 months, between 2010 and 2012.
During that time, the IRS singled out conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status, identifying them based on their policy positions or certain markers in their names, such as the phrase “Tea Party.”
The practice resulted in substantial delays in processing some applications, according to a new report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.
The report has fueled seething controversy in Washington D.C., where IRS officials are being called to account for the campaign of discrimination.
Calling the conduct an “outrage,” President Barack Obama announced Wednesday that the top official at the IRS, acting commissioner Steven T. Miller, had tendered his resignation. Meanwhile, Republican House Speaker John Boehner suggested the actions rise to the level of a criminal offense.
Republican leaders also questioned whether Senate Democrats wielded their influence to incite the enhanced IRS scrutiny.
Speaking on Fox News Tuesday, conservative powerbroker Karl Rove highlighted a letter sent by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana, to the director of the IRS in 2010 calling for further investigation of tax-exempt groups. Rove also discussed a letter sent to the IRS in 2012 by Shaheen and six other Democrats.
“(The IRS was) doing what people on Capitol Hill wanted them to do,” Rove said.
In the Feb. 16, 2012 letter, Shaheen and other lawmakers urged the IRS to develop new standards to evaluate the activities of so-called “social welfare” organizations.
Such groups are granted nonprofit status by the IRS, provided their primary function is not to engage in political campaigning. The groups are also known as 501(c)(4)s, a reference to their designation under the federal tax code.
In their letter, Shaheen and the other senators questioned whether some groups with overtly political aims were masquerading as social welfare organizations in order to skirt federal tax laws. The senators urged the IRS to prevent organizations “focused on federal election activities” from “abusing the tax code.”
The same group sent a second letter to former IRS commissioner Douglas H. Shulman in March 2012. They called for the IRS to implement a strict cap on the amount of political spending permissible for tax-exempt groups. The senators also called for the IRS to require organizations to document the exact percentage of their undertakings dedicated to “social welfare.”
“The IRS currently only requires that the purpose of these non-profits be ‘primarily’ related to social welfare activities, without defining what ‘primarily’ means,” the letter reads. “This standard should be spelled out more fully by the IRS.”
The senators concluded by stating their intention to introduce legislation to codify the changes if the IRS was unable to “issue administrative guidance” on the subject.
Following Rove’s line of attack, the New Hampshire Republican State Committee issued a statement Wednesday calling on Shaheen to address the letter.
“There are very serious questions about whether Shaheen’s partisan effort to pressure the IRS to increase investigations of 501(c)(4) organizations contributed to the outrageous practices that took place at the agency,” said NHGOP Executive Director Matthew Slater.
A timeline of events provided in the inspector general’s report casts doubt on the theory Shaheen’s letter spurred the agency’s actions. The practice of targeting conservative groups had been in effect for more than one year by the time Shaheen and the other senators composed their letters.
According to the report, IRS officials began singling out applications from conservative groups by March 2010 and continued through July 2011. More generic criteria was then put in place for a period of six months.
The parameters were changed once again in January 2012, allowing for IRS workers to once again parse applications based on political beliefs. The new guidelines called for scrutiny of organizations involved in limiting or expanding government, educating people about the constitution or promoting social and economic reforms, according to the report. The practice finally ended in May 2012, when the criteria was revised once again.
Shaheen has been highly critical of the IRS this week, beginning Monday with a statement calling the agency’s actions an “outrageous abuse of power.” Then on Wednesday, Shaheen called for a complete and thorough audit of the IRS by the agency’s inspector general.
Shaheen also briefly mentioned her letters to the IRS. She characterized them as a call for “clear regulations,” which might have prevented the abuses at the IRS.
The announcement came at about 4 p.m., several hours after Shaheen came under fire from Rove and others. In response to the Republican criticism, Shaheen spokesman Shripal Shah said Shaheen’s letter made no mention of political affiliation.
“Senator Shaheen believes that the tax code needs to be applied fairly and impartially and thinks the agency’s targeting of conservative groups is an outrageous abuse of power,” Shah said.
New Hampshire Democratic Party Communications Director Harrell Kirstein characterized the attempt to link Shaheen to the IRS scandal as “desperate even for the New Hampshire GOP.”
“This is merely the latest pathetic partisan attempt to distract voters from the never ending series of scandalous and vile comments made by Republican elected officials,” Kirstein said.
Republicans are accusing Shaheen and other Senate Democrats of exerting pressure on the IRS to crack down on political groups seeking nonprofit status.
The critique comes amid new revelations this week that the IRS improperly targeted conservative groups for scrutiny over a period of more than 18 months, between 2010 and 2012.
During that time, the IRS singled out conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status, identifying them based on their policy positions or certain markers in their names, such as the phrase “Tea Party.”
The practice resulted in substantial delays in processing some applications, according to a new report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.
The report has fueled seething controversy in Washington D.C., where IRS officials are being called to account for the campaign of discrimination.
Calling the conduct an “outrage,” President Barack Obama announced Wednesday that the top official at the IRS, acting commissioner Steven T. Miller, had tendered his resignation. Meanwhile, Republican House Speaker John Boehner suggested the actions rise to the level of a criminal offense.
Republican leaders also questioned whether Senate Democrats wielded their influence to incite the enhanced IRS scrutiny.
Speaking on Fox News Tuesday, conservative powerbroker Karl Rove highlighted a letter sent by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana, to the director of the IRS in 2010 calling for further investigation of tax-exempt groups. Rove also discussed a letter sent to the IRS in 2012 by Shaheen and six other Democrats.
“(The IRS was) doing what people on Capitol Hill wanted them to do,” Rove said.
In the Feb. 16, 2012 letter, Shaheen and other lawmakers urged the IRS to develop new standards to evaluate the activities of so-called “social welfare” organizations.
Such groups are granted nonprofit status by the IRS, provided their primary function is not to engage in political campaigning. The groups are also known as 501(c)(4)s, a reference to their designation under the federal tax code.
In their letter, Shaheen and the other senators questioned whether some groups with overtly political aims were masquerading as social welfare organizations in order to skirt federal tax laws. The senators urged the IRS to prevent organizations “focused on federal election activities” from “abusing the tax code.”
The same group sent a second letter to former IRS commissioner Douglas H. Shulman in March 2012. They called for the IRS to implement a strict cap on the amount of political spending permissible for tax-exempt groups. The senators also called for the IRS to require organizations to document the exact percentage of their undertakings dedicated to “social welfare.”
“The IRS currently only requires that the purpose of these non-profits be ‘primarily’ related to social welfare activities, without defining what ‘primarily’ means,” the letter reads. “This standard should be spelled out more fully by the IRS.”
The senators concluded by stating their intention to introduce legislation to codify the changes if the IRS was unable to “issue administrative guidance” on the subject.
Following Rove’s line of attack, the New Hampshire Republican State Committee issued a statement Wednesday calling on Shaheen to address the letter.
“There are very serious questions about whether Shaheen’s partisan effort to pressure the IRS to increase investigations of 501(c)(4) organizations contributed to the outrageous practices that took place at the agency,” said NHGOP Executive Director Matthew Slater.
A timeline of events provided in the inspector general’s report casts doubt on the theory Shaheen’s letter spurred the agency’s actions. The practice of targeting conservative groups had been in effect for more than one year by the time Shaheen and the other senators composed their letters.
According to the report, IRS officials began singling out applications from conservative groups by March 2010 and continued through July 2011. More generic criteria was then put in place for a period of six months.
The parameters were changed once again in January 2012, allowing for IRS workers to once again parse applications based on political beliefs. The new guidelines called for scrutiny of organizations involved in limiting or expanding government, educating people about the constitution or promoting social and economic reforms, according to the report. The practice finally ended in May 2012, when the criteria was revised once again.
Shaheen has been highly critical of the IRS this week, beginning Monday with a statement calling the agency’s actions an “outrageous abuse of power.” Then on Wednesday, Shaheen called for a complete and thorough audit of the IRS by the agency’s inspector general.
Shaheen also briefly mentioned her letters to the IRS. She characterized them as a call for “clear regulations,” which might have prevented the abuses at the IRS.
The announcement came at about 4 p.m., several hours after Shaheen came under fire from Rove and others. In response to the Republican criticism, Shaheen spokesman Shripal Shah said Shaheen’s letter made no mention of political affiliation.
“Senator Shaheen believes that the tax code needs to be applied fairly and impartially and thinks the agency’s targeting of conservative groups is an outrageous abuse of power,” Shah said.
New Hampshire Democratic Party Communications Director Harrell Kirstein characterized the attempt to link Shaheen to the IRS scandal as “desperate even for the New Hampshire GOP.”
“This is merely the latest pathetic partisan attempt to distract voters from the never ending series of scandalous and vile comments made by Republican elected officials,” Kirstein said.
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