The IRS Continues to Target Tea Party Groups

Months after President Obama said that the IRS's political targeting of conservative groups and religious groups was wrong and those doing it would be held accountable, evidence comes forth that it's still going on.

In testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee, an IRS agent testified and provided the following exchange:

In closed door testimony before the House Ways & Means Committee, the unidentified IRS agent said requests for special tax status from Tea Party groups is being forced into a special "secondary screening" because the agency has yet to come up with new guidance on how to judge the tax status of the groups.

In a redacted transcript from the committee provided to Secrets, a Ways & Means investigator asked: "If you saw -- I am asking this currently, if today if a Tea Party case, a group -- a case from a Tea Party group came in to your desk, you reviewed the file and there was no evidence of political activity, would you potentially approve that case? Is that something you would do?"

The agent said, "At this point I would send it to secondary screening, political advocacy."

The committee staffer then said, "So you would treat a Tea Party group as a political advocacy case even if there was no evidence of political activity on the application. Is that right?" The agent admitted, "Based on my current manager's direction, uh-huh."

Camp called the renewed targeting of Tea Party groups "outrageous."

Added a committee aide, "In plain English, the IRS is still targeting Tea Party cases."

So they haven't figured out how to treat tea party groups?  How about like every other group, as the law requires?  So they are still doing political screening on tea party groups even if there is absolutely no evidence of political activity, and that directive is being set by management.  

How exactly is anyone being held accountable for what happened?  How exactly has the administration shown they won't tolerate that activity?  

Meanwhile, more information is coming out that the administration is illegally sharing your personal information between federal agencies, and they are even being directed on how to cover the trial of evidence that it is happening.

The IRS takes over your health care on October 1st.  Do you have any expectation that they will protect your privacy?  Do you think they care about your privacy?